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A MODERN CYCLOPEDIA 
OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FOR ALL OCCASIONS 



A 

MODERN CYCLOPEDIA 
of ILLUSTRATIONS 

For All Occasions 


By 

G. B. F. HALLOCK, D.D. 

Editor of “ The Expositor " 

Author of “Sermon Seeds,' “ Upward Steps, “Beauty in God's 
Word," etc., etc. 



New York Chicago 

Fleming H. Revell Company 

London and Edinburgh 


Copyright, 1922, by 

FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 



New Yorks 158 Fifth Ave. 
Chicago: 17 N. Wabash Ave. 
London: 21 Paternoster Square 
Edinburgh: 25 Princes Street 


DEC 30 ’22 

©C1A692G14 


FOREWORD 


T HERE can never be too many books of fresh, original illus¬ 
trations for the use of public speakers. The greatest preacher 
the world has ever known was remarkable for his use of illus¬ 
trations. Our Master never preached a sermon when He did not 
liken His truth to some everyday, ordinary object. Some one has 
well said: “A sermon without illustrations is like a house without 
windows.” Said E. P. Hood: “There can be no doubt that for the 
purpose of teaching one illustration is worth a thousand abstractions. 
They are the windows of speech. Through them truth shines; and 
ordinary minds fail to perceive truth clearly unless it is presented to 
them through this medium.” 

The late Theodore L. Cuyler once said: “I have generally found 
that the most intellectual auditors prefer to hear a simple scriptural 
and spiritual preaching. The late Judge McLean, of the United 
States Supreme Court, once said to me: T was glad to hear you give 
that solemn personal incident in your discourse last night. Ministers 
now-a-days are getting above telling a story in a sermon; but I 
like it: ” 

Charles H. Spurgeon, that prince of preachers, states: “For the 
mass of people it is well that there should be a goodly number of 
illustrations in our discourses. We have the example of our Lord 
for that, and most of the great preachers have abounded in similes, 
metaphors, allegories and anecdotes. But beware of overdoing this 
business. Illustrate richly and aptly, but do not so much with para¬ 
bles imported from foreign sources as with apt similes growing out 
of the subject itself. Do not, however, think the illustration every¬ 
thing ; it is the window, but of what use is the light which it admits, 
if you have nothing for the light to reveal? Garnish your dishes, 
but remember that the joint is the main part to consider.” 

I think it was Robertson of Brighton who said something about 
having some one start his line of thought. Illustrations are of spe¬ 
cial value in this direction. They may act like priming for a pump, 
especially when one is fagged out and weary, and yet realizes that he 
must give his people something suggestive and refreshing on Sunday. 
As men pour a little water down a pump to help it draw up a stream 
from below, so does a theme suggested by another, or a sentence, a 
paragraph, or a good illustration often prove just what is needed to 

5 


6 


FOREWORD 


start one’s own mental flow, and the means to large and desirable 
results. 

At the same time it is true, as already suggested, that illustrations 
are of special utility to the hearers. An apt illustration arrests atten¬ 
tion, awakens interest, illumines the intelligence, enlists the memory, 
stimulates the imagination. “If not dragged in by brute force, but 
making a natural and graceful entrance,” says Rev. Dr. J. H. Bom- 
berger, “a well chosen illustration stimulates interest, fastens the 
attention, illumines the dreary stretches of abstract utterances and 
stamps the truth ineffaceably upon the memory.” 

Ex-President Wilson is reported to have said that after years of 
teaching he had found that his students usually forgot his lectures, 
but remembered his stories. Is this not suggestive to all preachers, 
Sabbath school teachers and parents ? Fill your preaching and teach¬ 
ing with good stories and other illustrations, and the truth remains 
attached to the story when it would not otherwise be held. This was 
the method adopted by our Saviour in teaching the people. 

G. B. F. H. 


Rochester, N. Y. 




A Modern Cyclopedia ^Illustrations 
I. CHRISTMAS 


1. The Growing Christmas. 

When Bishop Hurst was in Poona 
some time ago he went out to the 
great temple of Parvati, and there 
watched the worshipers. He asked 
the ancient Brahman priest who for 
many years had received the offer¬ 
ings there, “Do as many people come 
here to pray as formerly?” “No, 
there are fewer every year.” “How 
long will this worship last?” was the 
next query. “God knows,” he sadly 
replied. “What will bring it to an 
end?” “Jesus Christ,” the Brahman 
answered. Yes, our Christ is the 
Christ of a growing Christmas.— H. 

2. The Incarnation. 

I do not know how to illustrate the 
incarnation. The only thing I ever 
thought of is very imperfect. You 
know how the coast line of the ocean 
runs from Maine to Cape Cod. Out¬ 
side is the great ocean. What is in¬ 
side those little curves? The ocean, 
of course. You call one the ocean 
and the other the harbor or the bay, 
but it is all one ocean. The water is 
the same: it tastes the same, looks 
the same. Here is the great eternal 
God, filling all space, only in one 
place. He flows into a little curve, 
Jesus of Nazareth, but it is the same 
God whether He is there in heaven, 
or here in Jesus. Oh, I hope you 
don’t understand this. It would be 
such a little thing if you and I un¬ 
derstood it. — Alexander McKenzie, 
D.D. 

3. The Day of the Prince of Peace. 

Before daylight on the morning of 
Monday, November 11 , 1918 , when the 


whole world had begun to vent its 
feelings in an explosion of noise be¬ 
cause the armistice had been signed 
and the war was over, a nine-year- 
old boy, wide awake, asked his 
mother what it all meant. “Does it 
mean that Christ has come?” he 
asked. The answer had to be given 
that that was not what had happened. 
The boy evidently was turning the 
whole matter over in his mind, for 
some hours later he said to his 
mother, “When Christ does come, 
will there be as much excitement as, 
there is now? Will they make as 
much noise ?” “I don’t know, Henry,” 
replied the mother. “Well, they 
ought to,” said the little fellow; 
“that’s the most important thing.” 

The boy had the right of it. The 
coming of the Prince of Peace is the 
most important thing. The signing 
of the armistice was a marvelous 
blessing, a God-given blessing. Chris¬ 
tian people cried out to God, in the 
name of Jesus the Prince of Peace, 
that God would bring the war to an 
end, and would give victory to the 
forces fighting for ethical righteous¬ 
ness against the monstrous unright¬ 
eousness that was threatening to en¬ 
gulf the world. God heard and an¬ 
swered. And tears of joy started in 
the eyes of uncounted multitudes, in 
many a nation that Monday morning 
when hearts were thrilled by the 
news of peace. Boys were safe now, 
husbands and fathers would come 
back to their lonesome home circles. 
If that armistice could mean so much, 
then what joy and gladness should 
come into the hearts of men over the 


8 


DON’T FORGET THE BEST 


coming to earth of the Prince of 
Peace! 

4. Christ Joy-Bringer. 

“Thou hast increased their joy,” 
was said of Christ Christ is a joy- 
bringer. Rev. C. E. Parker, a mis¬ 
sionary in Vikarabad, India, says: 
“A few years ago, throughout this 
district, a Christian song could not 
be heard unless sung by a Christian 
worker, or some little children, here 
and there, who had been taught. To¬ 
day, all along the roads the people 
are singing praises to God, and the 
old obscene songs are given up. The 
men are singing at the well; the 
women singing at the mill; the farm¬ 
ers singing in the fields. A few 
years ago, you seldom heard people 
•praying. To-day from thousands of 
hearts is going up the prayer: ‘O 
Jesus Christ, have favor on me; re¬ 
member me and save me from sin.’ 
A few years ago, except in the homes 
of the workers, there was no family 
prayer. To-day, the family altar is 
being established all over this field. 
To-day our common greeting is: 
‘Are you happy?’ And the answer 
is: ‘All happy inside; Jesus is inside 
my heart/ ” 

The Christmas Christ makes us 
happy inside. He is Joy-Bringer.— H. 

5. God's Christmas Offer. 

A man once, on a wager, stood on 
London Bridge for a whole day try¬ 
ing to give away golden sovereigns, 
and only two persons would accept 
them. Equally foolish is the world in 
refusing the greatest of all gifts— 
God’s Christmas Gift. 

6. Un-Christmasy People. 

There cannot be a Christmas world 
made up of un-Christmasy people. It 
is Christmas in the heart that puts 
Christmas in the air .—William T. 
Ellis. 


7. Don’t Forget the Best. 

A shepherd boy in the Alps, while 
minding his sheep, saw a strange 
flower at his feet. He picked it up 
and a door opened in the hillside. He 
entered and found a cove piled up with 
gems, in the center of which sat a 
gnome, who said, “Take what you 
wish but don’t forget the best.” He 
dropped his flower and loaded himself 
with jewels, then went out, hearing 
again, “Don’t forget the best.” Once 
more in the open air he remembered 
“his key-flower,” and turned back to 
pick it up, but the door was gone, and 
in a moment all his gems had turned 
to dust. He had forgotten the best, 
after all. “Take what you want and 
can of earth’s treasures, but don’t for¬ 
get the best.” The best of all is 
Christ Jesus—the Christmas Christ. 
Take what you want and can of earth’s 
treasures, so long as you take them 
lawfully, rightfully, but don’t forget 
the best—Christ Himself.— H. 

8. His Fulness. 

A poor woman who had had a hard 
struggle to make ends meet, and knew 
what it meant to be stinted for food, 
was taken from the East End of Lon¬ 
don to the seaside. She was delighted 
with the scene. As she looked over 
the deep, and watched the inrolling 
waves, tears filled her eyes and she 
exclaimed, “Thank God for a sight 
of something of which there is 
enough.” It is so when the soul gets 
its first vision of the infinite fulness 
of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. His 
grace is quite enough for the soul’s 
every need. Seeing Him, we say: 

“Thou, O Christ, art all I want, 
More than all in Thee I find.” 

The Christmas Christ is sufficient for 
the world’s need.— H. 

9. Be a Reflector of Christ. 

In the Hebrides, Scotland, on Arn- 
ish Rock, Sotrnaway Bay, is a light¬ 
house without a lamp, but simply a 



CHRIST TONES OUR VISION 


9 


mirror reflector, upon which at night 
a light from another lighthouse five 
hundred feet away falls and is re¬ 
flected to an arrangement of prisms, 
and through them converged to a focus 
outside the lantern, from which they 
diverge in the necessary direction. The 
human soul, in its most perfect state, 
is a reflecting mirror that takes up and 
causes to shine abroad and into the 
darkness of the world the light which 
comes from Christ. At this Christmas 
season let us each resolve to take up 
more of the light from Christ and re¬ 
flect it out upon the stormy sea of life. 
In this way we too can be saviours of 
the world.— H. 

io. Christmas and Motherhood. 

On that first Christmas night God 
honored motherhood. The angels on 
their wings might have brought an 
infant Saviour to Bethlehem without 
Mary’s being there at all. But no; 
motherhood for all time was to be 
consecrated, and one of the tenderest 
relations was to be the maternal re¬ 
lation, and one of the sweetest words, 
“Mother.” In all ages God has hon¬ 
ored motherhood. In a great audi¬ 
ence, most of whom were Christians, 
I asked that all those who had been 
blessed with Christian mothers rise, 
and almost the entire assembly stood 
up. Don’t you see how important it 
is that all motherhood be conse¬ 
crated? Christmas is the festival of 
motherhood. It consecrates, it sancti¬ 
fies motherhood.— T. D. Talmage, 
D.D. 

n. A Christmas Legend. 

An old legend says that Joseph of 
Arimathea established a church at 
Glastonbury, England, and that from 
his staff which he stuck in the ground 
there sprang up a miraculous hawthorn 
bush, which ever afterward blossomed 
on Christmas in memory of his sanc¬ 
tity and labors. Our homes have 
Christmas trees laden for the pleasure 


of our children, but should not we, 
as “trees of righteousness,” produce at 
this season blossoms of praise, thanks¬ 
giving, benevolence and love in ado¬ 
ration of our blessed Saviour, who 
loved us and gave Himself for us? 
Blossoms which will produce “fruits of 
righteousness” to His glory .—John 
Gordon. 

12. Christ Tones Our Vision 

A visitor going into the studio of a 
great painter found on his easel some 
very fine gems, brilliant and sparkling. 
Asked why he kept them there, the 
painter replied: “I keep them there to 
tone up my eyes. When I am work¬ 
ing in pigments, insensibly the sense of 
color becomes weakened. By having 
these pure colors before me to re¬ 
fresh my eyes the sense of color is 
brought up again, just as the musician 
by his tuning-fork brings his strings 
up to the concert pitch.” For right 
living we need clear conceptions of the 
perfect One. Such conceptions only 
produce high moral impressions. We 
need to be toned up. We need the 
high and holy life of the perfect Man, 
Christ Jesus. 

This is a good thought for us at 
this Christmas season. Let us look at 
Christ anew and have our vision toned 
up to a perfect standard.— H. 

13. The Light of the World. 

We have read that near the North 
Pole, the night lasting for months, 
when the people expect the day is 
about to dawn, some messengers go up 
to the highest point to watch; and 
when they see the first streak of day 
they put on their brightest possible 
apparel, and embrace each other and 
say, “Behold the sunl” and the cry 
goes around all the land “Behold the 
sun!” The world was in darkness. 
Long centuries had the people lain in 
ignorance and in sin. The cry of 
Zacharias was the joyful one: “Be¬ 
hold the sun!” “Behold the sun of 



10 


CHRIST OR THE ANDES 


righteousness is rising with healing 
in his wings 1 ” “The dayspring from 
on high hath visited us 1” 

These words well express the pur¬ 
pose of Christ’s coming. It was to 
give light. What the sun is in the 
material world that Christ is to us in 
the spiritual world. He is the author, 
the source of light. As the face of 
nature revives or withers according as 
the influence of the sun is increased 
or diminished, so the soul of man con¬ 
tinues dead or is quickened according 
as the Son of Righteousness withholds 
or imparts His invigorating rays. He 
hath visited our benighted world. 

“The whole world was lo*st in the darkness 
of sin, 

The light of the world is Jesus.”— H. 

14. Beyond the Telling 

An Alaskan girl was found by her 
teacher admiring a beautiful sunset. 
When it was suggested that she try 
to put the scene on canvas, she re¬ 
plied: “O, I can’t draw glory.” So 
the most expressive words are utterly 
inadequate when one would describe 
to another his own personal vision of 
the Christ. Let us get a new vision 
of Him at this Advent season. 

15. The Top of the Pass. 

There is a pass in Scotland called 
Glencoe, which supplies a beautiful 
illustration of what heaven will be to 
the man who comes to Christ. The 
road through Glencoe carries the trav¬ 
eler up a long, steep ascent, with many 
a winding and many a little turning in 
its course. But when the top of the 
pass is reached, a stone is seen by the 
wayside, with these simple words en¬ 
graved on it: “Rest and be thankful.” 

Christmas Day is at the top of this 
year’s pass. Weary ones, pause a 
moment here: “Rest and be thankful.” 

16. Christ of the Andes 

For generations the two South 
American republics of Argentine and 
Chile quarreled, and at times fought, 


over the location of a boundary. Now 
on a peak of the Andes mountains, 
upon the boundary lines established 
between the two countries, three miles 
above the level of the ocean, a colossal 
statue of Christ has been erected. The 
figure is twenty-six feet high, and 
stands upon a granite hemisphere. Up¬ 
on the pedestal, this inscription (in 
Spanish), has been cut: “The moun¬ 
tains will crumble to dust ere Argen¬ 
tines and Chilean break the peace 
which, at the feet of Christ, the Re¬ 
deemer, they have sworn to keep.” 

What a beautiful example is this 
monument of the influence ,of the 
Christmas Christ in the world. He 
is the Peace-Bringer.— H. 

17. The Day-spring. 

A band of fugitives were crossing 
an eastern desert. The night was 
dark, but they determined to push on. 
Soon they lost their way, and had to 
spend the night in anxiety and fear. 
It seemed as if the night would never 
pass. But almost all at once the sun 
rose, bringing daylight and showing 
the way to safety. Not one of them 
ever forgot that sun-rising. So to the 
people of the world in their wander¬ 
ings ; they were lost—lost in the dark¬ 
ness of sin. But the dayspring from 
on high hath visited us, hath arisen' 
upon us, making plain the way of 
eternal safety. Christ is the dawn, 
Christ is our dayspring, and the pur¬ 
pose of his coming was to give us the 
light that would lead us to eternal 
bliss. 

But what is the cause of all this 
blessedness? It is “the tender mercy 
of our God.” The original statement 
is “the mercy of the heart of our God.” 
This seems to mean not only tender¬ 
ness, but much more. The mercy of 
the heart of God is, of course, the 
mercy of His great tenderness, the 
mercy of His infiinite gentleness and 
consideration, the mercy of His very 
soul of love. 



THE MESSAGE IN SONG 


XI 


God shows His tender mercy that 
He deigns to visit us at all. His great 
visit to us is in the incarnation of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.— H. 

18. The Best Christmas. 

There is a great deal of kindly feel¬ 
ing in the world, but too much of it 
is like cargoes of coal on a frozen 
stream, or like wood on the top of a 
mountain in winter, “frozen in,” and 
not available for use. Thaw out your 
“frozen kindness” this Christmas sea¬ 
son. Express yourself—your real self. 
It will not at all make you watery 
and undignified, as you fear, but it will 
bring into your heart and the hearts 
of many others the rarest gladness, 
and mark the time as exceedingly 
sweet in the calendar of your life and 
of theirs. The material surroundings 
will not matter. The cost of the 
presents you can afford matters not. 
For the best giving of all is the giving 
of the heart and love’s expression. 
Give that anew to father, mother, wife, 
children, associates, and by written 
word, if at a distance or spoken word 
if near: let them know afresh that you 
do love them and appreciate all that 
they have been and are to you. 

“Thaw out,” my brother, my sister 
this Christmas—and then stay thawed 
out! And may you live many years, 
God willing, to enjoy the blessed sen¬ 
sation.— H. 

19. The Message in Song. 

When Richard the Lion-hearted, one 
of the famous old-time British kings, 
lay in prison in a foreign land, his 
favorite minstrel travelled all over 
the country looking for his master, 
and everywhere he sang the king’s 
favorite song, knowing that if the king 
heard it he would respond. At length 
the minstrel came to the castle where 
the king was imprisoned, and sang 
there. The king heard the song, and 
took up the melody, and the minstrel 
knew that his master was there. He 


carried a message in song. The great¬ 
est message that ever came to earth 
came in song, the angel’s song. Men 
heard it, and they responded in faith, 
believing that deliverance from above 
had come to this sin-sick world. 

20. Think of Others. 

Some one has well said, “The mes¬ 
sage of Easter is ‘Think of heaven,’ 
the message of the Fourth of July is 
‘Think of our nation,’ the message of 
Thanksgiving is ‘Think of your bless¬ 
ings,’ the message of New Year’s Day 
is ‘Think on the passing time,’ but the 
message of Christmas says, ‘Think of 
others.’ ” Yes, the spirit of Christmas 
is the spirit of good will. It is the 
spirit of joy. It is the spirit of serv¬ 
ice. This is at least a part of its 
message. Think of others. 

21. A New Name. 

A newspaper item from Chicago, 
published early last autumn, told of 
business men on a certain street in that 
city having secured enough signatures 
to a petition to insure consideration of 
a proposal to change the name of that 
street. Formerly it was the haunt of 
confidence men and gamblers. The 
character of the street has now entirely 
changed. But the business men there 
say that customers were frightened 
away by stories told in the preceding 
decade; so they felt it was time that 
the name should be changed. The 
headline to the newspaper item read, 
“Street, Chicago, Wants to Forget 
Past in New Name.” On the first 
Christmas Day God offered to let the 
world forget its past in a New Name, 
—a wonderful name. And to those 
who accept God’s great Christmas of¬ 
fer there is given a new name (Rev. 
2:17; 3:12). —Charles G. Trumbull. 

22. Within My Heart. 

There is a lovely thought in Martin 
Luther’s Christmas Carol for Chil¬ 
dren : 



12 


CHRISTMAS ON YOUR RACE 


“Ah, dearest Jesus, Holy Child! 
Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled. 
Within my heart, that it may be 
A quiet chamber kept ior Thee.” 

23. Christmas on Your Face. 

Carry the Christmas story in your 
face. I have read of a poor little 
street girl who was taken sick one 
Christmas and carried to the hospital. 
While there she heard the story of 
Jesus coming into the world to save 
us. One day she whispered to the 
nurse, “I am having real good times 
here—ever such good times! S’pose 
I’ll have to go ’way from here just 
as soon as I get well; but I’ll take 
the good time along—some of it, any¬ 
how. Did you know about Jesus bein’ 
born?” “Yes,” replied the nurse, “I 
know. Sh-sh-sh! Don’t talk any 
more.” “You did? I thought you 
looked as if you didn’t, and I was 
going to tell you.” “Why, how did 
I look?” asked the nurse, forgetting 
her own order in her curiosity. “Oh, 
just like most o’ folks—kind o’ glum. 
I shouldn’t think you’d ever look glum, 
if you knew about Jesus bein’ born.” 

Let us carry the Christmas story in 
our faces. Why should we “look 
glum” when we know about Jesus 
being born? 

24. Meaning of Christmas. 

Two artists were asked each to make 
a copy of a famous painting. The one 
made mathematical calculations and 
produced a technically correct copy. 
The other studied the painting, entered 
into the spirit of the artist, and pro¬ 
duced not merely an imitation, but a 
picture which glowed with warmth 
and life. We are not, as Christians, 
simply to copy Christ, but rather to 
become possessed of His spirit and so 
reproduce His life in our lives. At 
this Christmas season let us aim to 
become possessed of the spirit of 
Christ, and so reproduce His life. 


25. A Christmas Rose. 

In Zona Gale’s captivating stories 
of Pelleas and Ettarre, an old hus¬ 
band and wife who are young at sev¬ 
enty, and sweethearts still, there is a 
pretty little passage. The two are 
sitting together by their fire on Christ¬ 
mas eve, and the room is perfumed 
with the scent of Christmas roses. 
They have been talking, exchanging 
confidences and hopes, for the old have 
hopes as well as the young, and people 
who have lived together fifty years 
have such intimacy as few others 
know, and then “for that matter,” 
Pelleas said, “every day is a loving 
cup, only some of us only see one of 
its handles: our own.” And after a 
time: “Isn’t there a legend,” he 
wanted to know, “or if there isn’t one, 
there ought to be one, that the first 
flowers were Christmas roses and that 
you can detect their odor in all the 
other flowers? I’m not sure,” he 
warmed to the subject, “but that they 
say if you look steadily, with clear 
eyes, you can see all about every 
flower many little lines, In the shape of 
a Christmas rose.” 

Let us look for Christmas roses, this 
year. We can find them if we look. 
We can find beauty and truth asnd love 
everywhere if we will look for them. 
— H. 

26. The Birth of Christ. 

’Tis not enough that Christ was born 
Beneath the star that shone. 

And earth was set that morn 
Within a golden zone. 

He must be born within the heart 
Before He finds his throne, 

And brings the day of love and good— 

The reign of Christlike brotherhood. 

27. Christmas Wish. 

May Christmas bring to you. 

Its tripart joy: 

True Faith, to free you e’er. 

From doubt’s alloy; 

Strong Hope, to sing your heart 
To sweet repose; 

And Love, to help you soothe 
Another’s woes. 

—John Grant Newman, D.D. 



THE GIFT THAT TRANSFORMS 


13 


28. Christmas Christ Peace- 

Bringer. 

“Peace on earth.” The Christmas 
Christ is the world’s Peace-bringer. 
A little Babe can bring peace. 

A day was dawning on a battle¬ 
field in Northern France through a fog 
so thick that no one could see more 
than a few yards from the trenches. 
In the night the Germans had drawn 
back their lines a little and the French 
had gone forward, but between the 
two positions a lonely farmhouse was 
still standing. As the sun rose, heavy 
guns began to boom. But suddenly on 
both sides the firing ceased and there 
fell a strange, dead stillness. Midway 
between the trenches, near the shat¬ 
tered farmhouse, there was—no, it 
must be impossible! But it was not, 
for there in the green meadow, crawl¬ 
ing on its hands and knees was a little 
baby. It appeared perfectly happy and 
contented, and the baby’s laugh was 
heard as it clutched a dandelion. Not 
a shot was fired; scarcely did a soldier 
on either side dare breathe. This spot 
which had been an inferno of shot and 
shell, was now something like a peace¬ 
ful island or a cool, friendly oasis in a 
desert. Suddenly a soldier jumped 
out of a trench and ran to where the 
child was crawling. He tenderly took 
it up and carried it back to shelter. 
No shots came from the trenches, but 
along both lines there rang out a 
mighty cheer. The coming of a little 
babe had brought peace, just as nearly 
two thousand years ago, when the 
Prince of Peace was born on that 
Christmas morning. He brought peace 
and good will to men. 

When all nations know and love 
Christ there will be no more war. 

29. Christmas Increasing Joy. 

I have read of a man who had a 
crusty and unsympathetic friend whom 
he was anxious to win to a better life 
and feeling. To this man, whose inner 
nature had never yet been warmed by 


the glow and presence of Christ, the 
world seemed cold and matter-of-fact, 
with little room for the play of sym¬ 
pathy, and scant reason for sacrifice. 
When Christmas came, his friend, a 
man of larger vision, persuaded him 
to join with him in trying to make 
others happy with Christmas cheer. 
When the day was over, the crusty 
man was like another being. His 
heart was melted to tenderness, his 
soul had been touched with sympathy 
and with the transforming power of 
sacrifice. “Why,” he said jubilantly, 
“there must have been a real joy for 
Christ in dying on the Cross!” 

Oh to let the Christmas joy break 
through our selfishness! “Thou hast 
increased their joy!” It is the work 
of Christ, of the Christmas Christ, in 
the hearts and lives of men to greatly 
increase their joy. The spirit of 
Christmas is the spirit of service. The 
spirit of service brings joy. The act 
of service brings joy.— H. 

30. The Best Christmas Gift. 

A mother who frequently left her 
home for a few days at a time, used to 
bring each of the children a little 
gift. One day she purposely neglected 
the gifts. The little ones met her in 
the hall with expectant faces. “I 
did not bring you any presents this 
time,” said the mother, “because—” 

“We don’t care, mother dear; you 
are the best present,” said one little 
one. Can we say to Christ, “Thou art 
the best gift”? 

31. The Gift that Transforms. 

“Papa,” asked a child who had been 
trying to catch a sunbeam, “is the 
big sun at the other end of the sun¬ 
beam?” “Yes, dear.” “Then I’ve 
gotten hold of all the light and heat 
there are, haven’t I?” “Yes, dear.” 
A little later the child climbed to her 
father’s knee and whispered, “Is God 
at the other end just the same when 
I pray?” “Yes, dear,” “Then,” 



14 


PUT CHRIST INTO CHRISTMAS 


mused the child, “I’ve got hold of all 
the power, haven’t I?” The marvel of 
this “gift” is that even a child can 
get hold of its light and power. God’s 
gift of Christ is a gift that transforms 
the world. If accepted, it will trans¬ 
form your life and mine.— H. 

32. Peace Not Wasteful. 

I saw a picture the other day which 
was intended to represent the re¬ 
enshrinement of peace. A cannon had 
dropped from its battered carriage, 
and was lying in the meadow rusting 
away to ruin. A lamb was feeding at 
its very mouth, and round it on every 
side flowers were growing. But really 
that is not a picture of the Golden 
Age. The cannon is not to rust: it 
is to be converted; its strength is to 
be transfigured. After the Franco- 
German war many of the cannon¬ 
balls were remade into church-bells. 
One of our manufacturers in Birming¬ 
ham told me that he was busy turning 
the empty cases of the shells used in 
the recent war into dinner-gongs.— 
Rev. John H. Jowett, D.D. 

33. Christmas Greetings. 

“Some good old-fashioned customs 
Go out of style, no doubt; 

But sending Christmas greetings 
We couldn’t do without. 

And so the custom lingers— 

Bet us hope it always will— 

For the same old-fashioned friendship 
Prompts the same old greetings still.” 

34. Put Christ Into Christmas. 

An American writer says; “We 
have in our congregation a little deaf 
and dumb girl. On Sunday she loves 
to have her father or mother find for 
her the words we are singing, though 
she cannot hear the music. She looks 
at the hymns, glides her little finger 
over every line; if she does not find 
the name of ‘Jesus’ there she closes 
the book and will have nothing to do 
with it.” So should we test the re¬ 
ligions of the day—if we find Jesus 
the central thought, it is good; if 


not, turn away and have nothing to do 
with it. Let us put more of Christ 
into our Christmas celebration, too.— 
H. 

35. A Better Kind of “Indian 
Giving.” 

An Indian one day asked Bishop 
Whipple to give him two one-dollar 
bills for a two-dollar note. The bishop 
asked, “Why?” He said, “One dollar 
for me to give to Jesus, and one dol¬ 
lar for my wife to give.” The bishop 
asked him if it was all the money he 
had. He said, “Yes.” The bishop 
was about to tell him, “It is too much” 
when an Indian clergyman, who was 
standing by, whispered: “It might be 
too much for a white man to give, but 
not too much for an Indian who has 
this year heard for the first time of 
the love of Jesus.” 

On that first Christmas morning 
they offered Him gifts, gold and frank¬ 
incense and myrrh. Give Him gifts. 
Give Him yourself.— H. 

36 . Christmas and Peace. 

An old cannon was brought back 
from a war and set up in a park. 
After a while grass grew under it and 
a flowering vine climbed over it, until 
it was partly covered with green 
leaves. Some birds were hunting a 
safe place for a nest. One rested on 
the cannon, and spied the quiet hole 
inside. He called his mate, and they 
decided to build there. They carried 
straw, string, hair, and feathers, and 
made the dearest nest. Nobody found 
it, until one day a man rested on a 
bench near by and noticed two birds 
flying in and out of the cannon’s 
mouth. He went near enough to see 
the nest and hear the chirping of 
young birds, calling for more food. 
He said to himself, How much better 
for the old cannon to be covered with 
vines and flowers, as a safe home for 
birds, than to be firing balls to kill 
people. 



SAVES WITHOUT AND WITHIN 


15 


The prophet Micah said such things 
would happen, when there should be 
no more war. They shall change their 
swords into plow-shares, and their 
spears into pruning-hooks, or knives 
to trim the vines and trees. Nobody 
shall be afraid, but the people shall 
live under their own vines and fig- 
trees, and they shall walk in the name 
of the Lord God forever. 

37. What’s the News? 

It is told of Alfred, Lord Tenny¬ 
son, that one day, as he was out walk¬ 
ing he happened on a poor old woman, 
whom he greeted with the common 
question: “What’s the news to-day?” 
Her reply was that the only news 
worth telling was that Jesus Christ 
came into the world to save sinners. 
“Ah,” returned the great poet, “that 
is old news and new news and good 
news .”—Bast and West. 

38. “The Child of the Maid.” 

In “The Child of the Maid” John 
Oxenham tells of that Christmas Day 
birth and of Mary’s pondering and 
dreaming of the outcome of that new¬ 
born life; of the great work her son 
would accomplish, in accordance with 
the angel’s promise; of the throne 
upon which He would sit; of the 
crown of gold He would wear. But 

“On Christmas Day the Child was born. 

On Christmas Day in the morning; 

He trod the long way, lone and lorn, 

He wore the bitter crown of thorn, 

His hands and feet and heart were torn. 
He died at last the Death of Scorn. 

But through His coming Death was 
slain, 

That you and I might live again. 

For this the Child of the Maid was born, 

On Christmas Day in "the morning.” 

39. The World’s Saviour. 

The Christmas Christ is the world’s 
Saviour. At this blessed season, let 
us dedicate ourselves anew to the 
making known a world Saviour. We 
are told that in the city of Madras, 
India, there is a chapel on the wall of 
which there is the upper portion of a 


cross. On one transverse end of the 
cross there is a pierced hand, the skin 
of which is brown, after the color of 
the skin of the people of the East. 
On the other side of this section is 
another pierced hand, white, after the 
color of the skin of the people of the 
West. It is a glorious symbol of a 
world Christ. The inscriptions on the 
cross were writen in Hebrew and in 
Latin and in Greek, the languages of 
the world. The Christmas Christ is a 
Saviour for the whole world. At this 
Christmas time let us dedicate our¬ 
selves anew to the work of making 
Christ known to the whole world. He 
is the only Peace-bringer for men and 
nations.— H. 

40. Saves Without and Within. 

The Christmas Christ saves with¬ 
out and within. 

A little colored boy, having watched 
his old mammy’s success in bleaching 
clothes, covered his face with soap¬ 
suds, and lay down on the lawn in 
the hot sun with the hope of turning 
white. It was a very uncomfortable 
and disappointed boy whom his 
mother admonished a couple of hours 
later. “Lan’s sake, chile! Don’t you 
know ye can’t make white folks of 
yerse’f by bleaching from the out¬ 
side?” she asked. And yet that is an 
experience which the world has never 
ceased trying. But Christianity is not 
a change wrought from the outside 
but from within. This is a truth that 
needs new emphasis in our day. This 
Christmas time is a good time to give 
it new emphasis.— H. 

41. Birth of a Babe in Bethlehem. 

A pistol shot, fired June 28, 1914, 
in time of peace, started the greatest 
war in the history of the world: 
brought twenty-seven nations to arms; 
cost ten million lives; and destroyed 
fifty billion dollars’ worth of prop¬ 
erty without counting that used in 
actual war material, while over two 



16 


CHRIST NOT EXCLUSIVE 


hundred billion dollars’ worth of the 
productive wealth of the nations that 
went to war has been mortgaged, much 
of which now seems unrecoverable. 
The ten million lives lost include 
those sacrificed through atrocities and 
massacres as well as through battle. 
The pistol shot put an end to the life 
of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian 
throne, at Serajevo, Austria. 

Now contrast that event, the pistol 
shot at Serajevo, and the unspeak¬ 
ably tragic train of events that fol¬ 
lowed in four years, with another 
single event the birth of a little baby 
boy in Bethlehem nineteen centuries 
ago, and the chain of events that have 
followed and will yet follow. One was 
Satan’s work, the other, God’s. 

42. Christ’s Visitation. 

When royalty enters the city, it puts 
on its holiday attire, but the most 
momentous day in the history of any 
city is the day when Jesus Christ 
gives it a special visitation of His 
power and presence. Some of the 
most painful pages of history are 
those recording the attitude cities took 
toward Him when he visited them. 
From His birth to His death, with the 
exception of a brief period of pub¬ 
licity, He was received coldly and often 
in the most hostile manner by the 
towns which He honored by His pres¬ 
ence. 

If Christ came to this city, would 
I be glad to see Him? Not appear to 
be glad, but really be glad to welcome 
Him? Whether or not you would be 
glad to welcome Him is an invariable 
index to your character. He is al¬ 
ways welcome where all is well. There 
is a line of Scripture which reads: 
“And when Herod the king heard it, 
he was troubled.” Men who have been 
living like Herod are always troubled 
when they hear that Jesus is in the 
neighborhood. Jesus is in the way 
of the Herods. Blessed is the man 
who can say with an eminent states¬ 


man of not long ago, who, when asked 
what he would do if he knew that 
he were to die the next day, said, “I 
would just go on and do my duty as 
on any other day .”—Billy Sunday. 

43. Christ Not Exclusive. 

A traveler tells us that one day he 
climbed a steep path in the neighbor¬ 
hood of Lynmouth, England, to enjoy 
a view from the top. There, how¬ 
ever, he found a board bearing the 
inscription in large letters, “This Out¬ 
look is Private.” The Christmas 
Christ is not private. All the riches 
of the Gospel are freely given of God. 
Christ came for “all people.” 

Christmas is a world festival of a 
world religion. The advent of Jesus 
is the guarantee that the world can 
be redeemed. The message of Christ¬ 
mas, of every Christmas, of this 
Christmas, is that the world is a re¬ 
deemable world. This is the tremen¬ 
dous and glorious significance of the 
birth of Christ, that in Him God has 
come down to earth with the infinite 
resources of divine wisdom, love, and 
power, to redeem the whole world. 
If the vision of the world’s sin and 
corruption and the experience of the 
might of evil have dimmed the faith 
of some of God’s people in the salva- 
bility of mankind, the remembrance 
of the Redeemer’s birth should serve 
to remove all doubt and make us again 
firm believers in the salvableness of 
the whole world. 

44. The Christmas Rose. 

On Christmas morning as I go into 
my garden I see a soft white blanket 
spreading far and wide. From the 
long, narrow bed by the old circle of 
rich green leaves, smiles a wonderful 
blossom—the Christmas Rose. ’Tis 
white as the snow lying all about, with 
a crown of golden stamens. A little 
bud close by is faintly tinged with 
pink, and just beyond an older blos¬ 
som shows a bit of lavender in its 



CHRISTMAS GOD’S VISIT 


17 


fading petals. How courageous is 
this last flower of the year 1 Like the 
blue jays and the woodpeckers, it 
loves its home so well, it braves the 
ice and snow, the cold winds and wild 
storms. 

This flower is not a true rose, but 
is first cousin to the buttercup, and 
’tis only by courtesy that we call it 
after the Queen of Flowers, perhaps 
partly because it is a guest from over 
the water, its home being in Austria. 

A beautiful legend tells us that when 
the Babe Jesus lay in the manger, a 
little shepherdess of the plains saw 
the Wise Men bearing their gifts, and 
wept because she had not even one 
tiny flower to put in His hand. An 
angel who was hovering near struck 
the frozen ground with his silver rod, 
and instantly there sprang forth a 
green twig, followed by a bud, which 
opened into a pure white blossom with 
a golden crown. Thus was the little 
shepherdess enabled to place in the 
Holy Child’s hand the first Christmas 
Rose .—Margaret IV. Leighton. 

45. Christmas God’s Visit. 

If the President of the United 
States should come all the way from 
Washington to Colorado Springs and 
call upon me, I would have reason to 
consider myself honored. But God 
does infinitely more than that for every 
soul that welcomes him. He says: 
“If any man hear my voice and open 
the door I will come in to him, and 
will sup with him, and he with me.— 
Rev. J. Y. Bwart, D.D. 

46. Contraband Goods. 

A traveler landing in a foreign 
country was at once asked: “Have 
you any contraband goods?” “No,” 
he replied. “But I must examine your 
baggage, nevertheless,” said the offi¬ 
cial. After the examination, the 
official said, with a smile, “You may 
pass; you have no forbidden goods.” 
Christ’s life here on earth showed us 
2 


how to get rid of the contraband 
goods of selfishness, jealousy and all 
little meannesses, but, better still, 
his death opened a door from which 
will sound forth to all those without 
forbidden goods: “Well done, thou 
good and faithful servant; enter thou 
into the joy of thy Lord.” 

The Christmas Christ helps us to 
get rid of contraband goods.— H. 

47. Meaning of Christmas. 

One of the poets has an ingenious 
fancy that the god of love had shot 
all his golden arrows at him, but 
could never pierce his heart, till at 
length the god put himself into the 
bow and darted himself straight into 
the poet’s breast. This somewhat re¬ 
sembles God’s method of dealing with 
men. When all His other gifts could 
not prevail, he at last made a gift of 
Himself to testify His affection and to 
engage theirs. This is the true mean¬ 
ing of Christmas.— H. 

48. Blessings of Christmas. 

If you could look down upon the 
vast stretches of Africa, you would 
see a ribbon of green, perhaps three 
thousand miles long, threading the 
wide waste of sand. One of the most 
fertile valleys on earth is bounded on 
both sides by appalling barrenness. 
You can trace the channel of the 
gospel in the world in the same way. 
Where it has gone, life and verdure 
and moral beauty shine. 

Tell, tell the Christmas story. It 
brings blessings wherever it goes.— H. 

49. He Sent His Son. 

What child would love his mother 
if the mother remained away, and 
merely sent him food and clothes and 
toys? Love is inspired by the moth¬ 
er’s arms, close about, and the 
mother’s kisses. So it was not enough 
for God to remain at a distance and 
send gifts to men. In the fullness of 
time He sent His Son. That was a 



i8 


CHRISTMAS ALL THE YEAR 


glorious Christmas day when he came. 

—H. 

50. Christmas Legacy. 

Dr. Guthrie, in his autobiography, 
describes an old Scotch parishioner 
at Airbirlot “who died as he lived, a 
curious mixture of benevolence and 
folly.” The lawyer who drew his 
will, after writing down several 
legacies of five hundred pounds to 
one person, a thousand to another, 
and so on, at last said: “But, Mr.—, 
I don’t believe you have all that money 
to leave.” “Oh,” was the reply, “I 
ken that as well as you; but I just 
want to show them my good will.” 
But God’s “good will toward men” is 
no mere pretence of bestowing gifts; 
and it means more than wealth and 
pleasure and position and length of 
days. It means salvation. It means 
the possession of the riches of his 
grace. It means that while on earth 
we may have the “pehce of God, which 
passeth all understanding,” and “joy 
unspeakable and full of glory.” If we 
get this thought we will have in mind 
the real meaning of Christmas. 

51. As Many as Received Him. 

After Holman Hunt had finished 
his great picture of the “Light of the 
World,” he asked a fellow-artist to 
come and give his opinion on it. As 
is well known, the picture depicts the 
Saviour standing with a lantern in 
one hand, and knocking with the other 
at an ivy-mantled door. The artist 
looked at it for some minutes and 
then exclaimed, “Why, Hunt, you 
have made a great mistake. There is 
no handle on the door. How can 
the Saviour enter without a handle?” 
“I have made no mistake,” replied 
Hunt; “the handle is inside.” The 
Saviour can never enter until the door 
is opened by the sinner’s own hand. 

“As many as received Him.” Yes, 
there is the condition—“received 
Him.” We must receive Him if we 


are to be blessed by Him. This 
Christmas will mean very little to us 
unless we actually receive Christ— 
welcome him to our homes and our 
hearts.— H. 

52. The Lord Has Come. 

The Christmas Christ is the world’s 
Ruler, our Lord and King. We are 
told that once when a Roman Em¬ 
peror was passing through the streets 
of Rome in a triumphal procession, 
surrounded by attendants and sol¬ 
diers, a child came out of the crowd 
and ran toward him. The soldiers 
cried, “Go back, child! go back! he 
is your Emperor!” But the child 
replies, “He is your Emperor, but he 
is my Father!” In the kingdom of 
God, Christ is not only our Prince 
of Peace, but also our Everlasting 
Father. He is our divine Lord and 
King, Ruler of men and nations. Let 
us bow to Him. Let us enthrone Him 
Lord of all. Joy to the world, the 
Lord has come! Tell it. Sing it. 
Shout it. Keep on telling and sing¬ 
ing and shouting till the whole world 
hears. For the message of the Christ¬ 
mas Christ makes known the possi¬ 
bilities of the world’s redemption.— H. 

53. Christmas all the Year. 

A Salvation Army lassie, a success¬ 
ful worker in the slums, a girl whose 
only book was the Bible, and who was 
sadly ignorant of the things that go 
to make people “cultured,” was asked 
on one occasion what was the secret 
of her success. Her eyes sparkled as 
she answered: “O, it’s love; it’s love 
in the heart. You let it come out, 
and they feel it.” Christ was con¬ 
tinually reborn in her. 

To-day, to-morrow, every day, 
Christ must be born in us; that is to 
say, His Spirit must inspire us and 
shed the love of God abroad in our 
hearts. To have this means to have 
Christmas in our hearts every day of 
the year. 



CHRISTMAS AFTER CHRISTMAS 


19 


54. The Restored Christ. 

A man of wealth was a great ad¬ 
mirer of Murillo, and longed to pos¬ 
sess some painting of that famous 
artist representing the Christ-child. 
One day his search was rewarded. 
He found a painting bearing the 
mark of Murillo representing the in¬ 
fant Christ as king, surrounded by a 
company of angels, who did Him rev¬ 
erence. At once the picture was 
bought. But on examination under a 
glass it was discovered that the orig¬ 
inal picture had been tampered with; 
that while the surrounding host was 
by Murillo’s hand, the Child-king had 
been cut out and a false Christ in¬ 
serted. Hanging the picture in his 
art gallery, the purchaser now com¬ 
menced a search for the true Christ— 
a search which lasted many years and 
covered many lands. At last he found 
a picture, seemingly a reproduction 
of his own, and also claiming to be a 
genuine work of Murillo. This also 
he bought, and to his great delight, 
under the glass, it was revealed that 
he had found the Christ for which 
he sought. Deftly he removed the 
false Christ from the first picture, 
and inserted the true Christ from the 
second picture. The picture, thus 
complete, is now said to hang in one 
of the art galleries of Europe under 
the title of “The Restored Christ.” 

From politics, from society, from 
commerce, the vandal hand of sin has 
cut out Christ, the true King, and 
inserted the false matter of self. Are 
we aware of our loss? Are we look¬ 
ing for Christ? Like the wise men 
of old, let us make sure that we have 
the true Christ as King of our lives, 
and crown Him Lord of all. And let 
this Christmas be welcomed with its 
gracious reminder of our need. 

55. When God was Defied. 

There was an infidel soldier of the 
Middle Ages who hated the Bible and 
all sacred things. He grew so fierce 


and mad in his defiance that he deter¬ 
mined to test the power of the Chris¬ 
tians’ God. So he went out into a 
field, armed as if for battle. He 
threw his glove down on the ground 
as a challenge. Then he looked up 
into the heavens and angrily cried: 
“God, if there be a God, I defy Thee 
here and now to mortal combat. If 
Thou indeed art, put forth Thy power 
of which Thy pretended priests make 
such boast.” As he spoke he saw a 
piece of paper fluttering in the air 
just above his head. It fell at his 
feet. He took it up, and on it read 
these words: “God is love.” This 
was the message that came wafted 
down on the still air, in the angels’ 
song, that night when Christ was 
born.—/. R. Miller, D.D. 

56. Lesson of Christmas. 

One of the most engaging of all the 
catacomb testimonies to the Christian 
faith, in the kindness, grace, love and 
faithfulness of the Good Shepherd, is 
known as the Good Shepherd and the 
Seasons. In the center stands the 
strong, stalwart Shepherd with a 
lamb upon his shoulder; one hand 
holds a crook, the other the legs of 
the lamb, as if to secure the recov¬ 
ered creature from fear of being lost 
again; on either side of the Shep¬ 
herd are the figures representing the 
seasons. Spring has roses in bloom, 
summer has fruits, autumn ripened 
ears, while “winter as an old man 
burns the leaves.” The meaning is 
that the Good Shepherd cares for his 
sheep the year round, is with them 
“all the day.” 

The Christmas season has its les¬ 
sons too. It tells of the coming of 
the Good Shepherd, of Christ’s leav¬ 
ing heaven and coming to earth to be 
the Saviour of men.— H. 

57. Christmas After Christmas. 

Two or three years ago, in one of 
our cities, an Oriental was giving his 



20 


IF CHRIST HAD NOT BEEN BORN! 


impression of our American Christ¬ 
mas. He said that for weeks before 
Christmas, people’s faces seemed to 
have an unusual light in them. They 
were all bright and shining. Every 
one seemed unusually kind and cour¬ 
teous. Every one was more thought¬ 
ful, more desirous of giving pleasure 
than had been his wont. Men who 
at other seasons of the year had been 
stern, unapproachable, were now ge¬ 
nial, hearty, easy to approach. Those 
who ordinarily were close, not re¬ 
sponding to calls for charity, had be¬ 
come for the time generous and 
charitable. Those who had been in 
the habit of doing small and mean 
things, when they entered the warm 
Christmas zone, seemed like new men, 
as if a new spirit possessed them. 
And the Oriental said it would be a 
good thing if all the charm of the 
Christmas spirit could be made to 
project itself into the new year. 

This is really the problem to be 
solved. Christmas ought not to be 
one day only in the year,—it should 
be all along, all the days, through all 
the years. We may as well confess 
that the problem has not yet been 
realized. Almost immediately after¬ 
ward we fall back into a selfish way 
of living that is far below the high 
tide to which we rose at Christmas.— 
Sunday School Times. 

58. Art and Christmas. 

Art has lingered near the Khan of 
Bethlehem and lovingly transferred 
to canvas the Madonna and Child. 
Raphael, Murillo, Correggio, Fra 
Angelica, Dore and a host of others 
have taken Matthew’s or Luke’s in¬ 
spired narrative and produced paint¬ 
ings well nigh immortal. Our own 
hearts at Christmas-tide turn to the 
manger, and like shepherds and Magi 
we keel and worship the Holy Babe. 
Humble though the place, the Person 
made it glorious. 


59. If Christ Had Not Been Born! 

There is a strange old legend of a 
world that grew colorless in a single 
night. The clouds became lifeless, 
spongy vapors; the waves turned pale 
and motionless; the fire fled from 
the diamond and light from every 
gem; the metal gleaming of the snake 
and the dyes of the jeweled orbs 
faded away slowly, as the stars go 
out at daybreak. The world turned 
into a sculptor’s world, and all was 
animated stone. Those that dwelt 
upon it were saddened and bewildered 
at the change, and never ceased to 
mourn for the beautiful tint of the 
flowers and grasses, and the van¬ 
ished hues of the sunset clouds. All 
nature was in mourning, and wore a 
lead-colored robe. Nevermore should 
diamonds sparkle, or rubies shine, or 
dewdrops glisten in the morning light. 
Nevermore should there be a rainbow 
on the cloud, or silver in the falling 
raindrops. The expense of lake or 
ocean should nevermore reflect a blue 
heaven, or the stars, or the sun. The 
world had passed into eclipse—into 
the shadow of death. 

This old legend is a parable. It 
suggests to us a picture of the world 
without Christ. What a dark, dead, 
dismal world this would be; what an 
awful world it would be if in that 
total eclipse of a Christless condition! 
What if there had been no Saviour ?— 
H. 

60. Origin of Gifts. 

When the Three Wise Men rode 
from the East they bore on their 
saddle-bows three caskets filled with 
gold and frankincense and myrrh, to 
be laid at the feet of the manger- 
cradled babe of Bethlehem. Begin¬ 
ning with this old, old journey, the 
spirit of giving crept into the world’s 
heart. As the Magi came bearing 
gifts, so do we also; gifts that re¬ 
lieve want, gifts that are sweet and 
fragrant with friendship, gifts that 



CHRISTMAS CONSECRATION 


21 


breathe love, gifts that mean service, 
gifts inspired still by the star that 
shone over the City of David.— K. D. 
Wiggin. 

61. Welcome Christmas. 

There is a true story of a French¬ 
man named Lepaux, who, with much 
thought and study, invented a new 
religion, which he called “Theo- 
philanthropy,” but was disappointed 
that it made no headway, and com¬ 
plained to Talleyrand, the great 
statesman and wit, of the difficulty he 
found in introducing it. 

“I am not surprised,” said Talley¬ 
rand, “at the difficulty you find in 
your effort. It is no easy matter to 
introduce a new religion. Let me 
advise you what to do, and then per-r 
haps you might succeed.” 

“What is it? What is it,” asked 
the other with eagerness. 

-“It is this,” said Talleyrand; “go 
and be crucified and then be buried 
and rise again on the third day, and 
then go on working miracles, raising 
the dead and healing all manner of 
diseases and casting out devils, and 
then it is possible that you might ac¬ 
complish your end!” and Lepaux, 
crestfallen and confounded, went 
away silent. 

Our religion is based upon such in¬ 
destructible foundations, and has 
given the world such convincing 
proofs that it came from God, that 
our Christ alone is worthy of being 
trusted, loved, served with all our 
ransomed powers. 

Therefore, welcome Christmas, wel¬ 
come Christ, and the riches of His 
pardon, the sweetness of His peace, so 
much needed to-day in this storm- 
tossed world.— Rev. John Y. Ewart, 
D.D. 

62. Christmas Consecration. 

Raphael’s “Transfiguration” is per¬ 
haps the greatest painting in all the 
world. I have read somewhere that 


this mighty masterpiece was only half 
finished when Raphael died. He had 
finished the upper part with marvel¬ 
lous skill, but had barely outlined the 
lower part when he was stricken and 
died. The transfiguration scene was 
perfect. But the lower half, which 
gives the scene at the foot of the 
mountain, was only in rough outline. 
After the death of the master his 
friends asked, “Who shall finish the 
‘Transfiguration’ ?” 

Now, there was a pupil of Raphael 
whose name was Romano. He had 
been associated with the master for a 
great many years. He had lived with 
him, talked with him, worked with 
him, caught his spirit, and under¬ 
stood his working plans. So it came 
to pass that Romano was asked to 
finish the “Transfiguration.” He con¬ 
sented, and gave himself up to the 
task. He studied the original draw¬ 
ings and sketches. He lived in the 
atmosphere of the masterpiece. He 
put all his powers of brain and heart 
into the supreme effort. And he won 
a signal triumph. So well did his 
work blend with that of Raphael that 
even with the closest scrutiny it is 
difficult to discover that the entire 
painting has not been produced by one 
master hand. And during all the years 
since Romano has shared in the glory 
of Raphael, for did he not carry to 
masterful completion the world’s 
greatest painting? 

The Master Painter completed His 
part of the world’s transfiguration 
scene. He did all he could do. But 
the task was not yet finished when He 
went away. To His disciples He com¬ 
mitted the completion of His world 
work. “As my Father hath sent me” 
to deliver a great message, to live a 
great life, to make a supreme sacri¬ 
fice, to bring men into harmony with 
the highest spiritual ideals, “so send 
I you.” 

May the Christmas season find a 
vast multitude of disciples eager to 




22 


BY THE ROADSIDE OE DUTY 


consecrate themselves to the supreme 
and inspiring task of transfiguring the 
whole world into the likeness of the 
living Christ. — Bishop Joseph F. 
Berry, D.D. 

63. By the Roadside of Duty. 

“Jesus was born by the roadside of 
duty. Joseph and Mary were on their 
way to the Holy City. There they 
were to enroll themselves as the 
Chosen of God. How often the same 
fact found illustration in His after 
life 1 More than once as the disciples 
journeyed Jesus Himself drew near. 
He would suggest companionship, as¬ 
sociation, presence. No one ever 
turned his face toward duty and went 
alone.” 

64. A Beautiful Custom. 

“At Lyons, in France, it has long 
been the rule for the first infant re¬ 
ceived at the Foundling hospital on 
Christmas day to be welcomed with 
special honor. A handsome cradle is 
in readiness, softest clothing is pro¬ 
vided and the kindest solicitude is 
evinced. The object of the ceremony 
is to mark the contrast between the 
lot of the Saviour and one of the 
most helpless and forlorn of his crea¬ 
tures. It is a lesson in charity that 
is not lightly forgotten.” 

65. Jesus, Saviour. 

His name Jesus, means Saviour. 
Jesus has come. What for? To save 
you. You have a Saviour if you are 
only willing to be saved. 

A woman of brilliant intellect, re¬ 
fined and beautiful and richly dressed, 
in a fit of insanity, threw herself into 
the lake at Chicago a few months ago 
and was drowned. A rope was thrown 
to her, but she refused to grasp it. 
This woman, so much respected, was 
insane, and she could not be saved, 
because she would not be saved. But, 
do we not know it, that in the matter 
of eternal salvation there are many 


who act just as insanely? They re¬ 
fuse to allow themselves to be saved. 
They reject the Saviour when He 
would save them. But glad and hap¬ 
py fact, to every willing one now, 
when Jesus was born He came as a 
Saviour. Have you let Him save you ? 
—H. 

66. Christmas Makes Kind. 

Some one tells of seeing a little 
lame dog trying to climb up the curb¬ 
stone from the street to the pavement. 
But the poor creature could not quite 
reach the top—he would always fall 
back. A hundred people passed by 
and watched the dog, laughed at his 
efforts and failures, and went on. No 
one offered to help him. Then a work¬ 
ing man came along, a rather rough 
looking man. He saw the dog and 
pitied him, and getting down on his 
knees beside the curb, he lifted the 
little creature up to the sidewalk and 
then went quietly on. That man pos¬ 
sessed the true spirit of love. That 
is what Jesus would have done. Love 
is shown quite as unmistakable in the 
way a man treats a dog as in the 
spirit he shows toward his own fel¬ 
lows. Christmas in our own hearts 
will make us kind.—/. R. Miller, D.D. 

67. Christmas in the Heart. 

Tradition tells us that a century 
after the first Christmas a mission¬ 
ary stood on the banks of the Arno, 
telling the story of the Christ Child. 
That night a Roman prince returned 
to his stone mansion, to feast. Sud¬ 
denly in the dark he heard a tap on 
the window, and beheld a child’s face, 
a face beautiful enough to have been 
a model for Raphael’s cherubs, and 
lo, a voice like music in the air whis¬ 
pered “The Christ Child is hungry.” 
Irritated, the prince sent his soldiers 
to drive the child away, but from that 
moment his rich viands became taste¬ 
less and as ashes and sand. Once 
more he looked up, startled by a tap 



A CHRISTMAS LEGEND 


23 


upon the window, and beheld the radi¬ 
ant child, standing at the window, in 
the darkness and the storm. Then 
came the voice saying, “The Christ 
Child is cold.” In his selfishness 
again he bade the soldiers drive the 
child away, and told his servants to 
draw the curtains close. In that mo¬ 
ment the very fire grew cold, and the 
blazing embers threw off darkness, 
and a chill crept to the heart of the 
selfish prince. And then the ice be¬ 
gan to melt. Springing up, he flung 
wide the door and plunged into the 
darkness, calling for the child. 
Faster and faster fled the vision, until 
it came to a house, where a widow 
was dead, and a group of little or¬ 
phan children were sobbing in the 
night. Obedient to the Child’s com¬ 
mand, the prince and his servants took 
them to his stately house, and brought 
other hungry children in, and feasted 
them, and henceforth his table was 
their table, his house their home, his 
sword their shield, his feet their 
wings. Some had thought that hap¬ 
piness was not for him, but in giving 
happiness to Christ’s children, his 
heart became the very citadel of joy 
and gladness.— Hillis. 

68. A Christmas Legend. 

Do you know why the holly has 
red berries? A long time ago, so the 
story goes, the trees heard a rumor 
that if a king should walk in their 
shade the first tree that should recog¬ 
nize him would become more beautiful 
than all the others. Now it happened 
that outside the little town of Nazareth 
there grew a forest of big cedars, 
firs, and oaks, and among them one 
little holly tree. One day a boy came 
out of the town and walked through 
the forest. Each of the big trees 
thought, “He is looking at me” but 
the little holly tree as it watched him 
forgot about itself. Many times the 
boy walked in the forest until the big 
trees became so accustomed to him 


that they gave him no attention. But 
the holly tree still watched him and 
said to itself, “Surely if a king were 
to come he would not be so beautiful 
as this boy. He is always kind; the 
birds and the animals are not afraid 
of him. I wish he were my king; I 
should like to obey him.” 

After a time the little boy no 
longer went to the forest. The holly 
tree missed him very much; but it 
thought about him and tried to be 
like him and to do the things it be¬ 
lieved he would want it to do. It 
was kind to the birds and the ani¬ 
mals. It spread its branches so that 
the birds could build their nests in 
them. It made little houses down 
among its roots for the small ani¬ 
mals. The other trees thought it was 
not worth noticing, but it kept sweet- 
tempered and did not quarrel with 
them. 

The little boy grew to be a man 
and traveled about the country, tell¬ 
ing people about God and how men 
might please God by loving one an¬ 
other. But one day wicked men took 
him and put a robe on him such as 
kings wear, and made a crown of 
thorny twigs and placed it on his 
head. Then they nailed him to a 
cross and over his head was placed a 
sign which read, “The King.” 

A wonderful change now came to 
the little holly tfee growing just out¬ 
side of Nazareth. Between its dark 
green leaves little red berries began 
to grow until it was arrayed in a 
royal robe of scarlet, because, you 
see, it was the first of the trees to 
recognize the King. 

Yes, it was Jesus, King of heaven 
and earth. To recognize Him as King, 
to desire to obey Him and be like 
Him is to become beautiful—beautiful 
in character. It means to be arrayed 
like Him in a robe of righteousness. 
Amid the hurry and the excitement, 
the gift-making and the gift-receiving, 
the good-will and the joy of the 



24 


CHRISTMAS CHIMES IN THE BELFRY 


Christmas season, shall we not take 
time to think that it is the birthday 
of our King? 

But one day’s loyalty to the King 
cannot keep the heart warm and the 
life true for the remaining three hun¬ 
dred and sixty-four days. The loyalty 
of Christmas, its love and good-will, 
must overflow into the rest of the 
year. The first Christmas carol, sung 
by the angels that night outside of 
Bethlehem must reecho throughout 
the year. 

69. The Christmas Chimes in the 
Belfry. 

An old legend tells us that there 
was once an old church in whose bel¬ 
fry were the most beautiful chimes in 
the world. No man or woman living 
had ever heard them ring, but each 
one had heard his father or grand¬ 
father tell of their wonderful beauty. 

There was a belief among the peo¬ 
ple that the chimes would ring on 
Christmas Day if they brought their 
most precious gifts and laid them on 
the altar of the church. The king 
appointed the next Christmas for 
every man, woman and child in the 
city to bring his gift. 

First came the king and laid his 
crown upon the altar. The people 
gazed in wonder and sat waiting ex¬ 
pectantly; for surely no gift could 
be more precious than the king’s 
crown. But the chimes did not ring. 
Then a soldier came and laid his 
sword upon the altar, but still the 
chimes did not ring. 

A woman brought a beautiful 
dress, of her own weaving, and laid 
it by the soldier’s sword, but there 
was no sound from the old belfry. 
A maiden brought flowers, planted 
and watered by her own hand, but 
still the chimes did not ring. 

Now there was in a distant part of 
the city a little boy named Peter, who 
for weeks had been saving a few small 


coins for his gift. It had been very 
hard to save them. But at last he 
was on his way with these, his most 
precious gift, to lay on the altar. He 
had nearly reached the steps of the 
church when a whine made him look 
down on the sidewalk. 

There in a narrow doorway crouched 
a little dog with a broken leg. What 
should Peter do? It was getting late. 
If he waited to take the dog home 
and bind his leg, the church would 
be closed and he would lose his chance 
to make the beautiful chimes ring. 
But another whine came from the 
dog. Peter took his hand from the 
pocket where the hard-earned money 
lay, picked up the dog in his arms and 
ran home as swiftly as he could. As 
he came to the door he called to his 
brother Hans. ‘‘Hans, come, take the 
money and run back to the church. 
Quickly, Hans! it may be closed and 
the beautiful chimes have not yet been 
rung.” 

Then he set to work binding up the 
dog’s leg. His little brother ran to 
the church. The western sunlight was 
throwing long shadows down the 
aisles as the people sat waiting, dis¬ 
couraged, hoping against hope as one 
gift after another was laid upon the 
altar and still the chimes were silent. 
Just as a few left their places to pass 
out, giving up hope, a tiny boy came 
panting, breathless, up the steps, down 
the long aisle, straight to the altar 
where he laid a few small coins. 

Suddenly from out the long silent 
belfry broke the most wonderful 
music—filling the church, the air, the 
city, with glorious harmony. People 
fell upon their knees in joy and thank¬ 
fulness, men who had not prayed in 
years praised God, mothers held their 
little children more closely to their 
hearts. The whole city seemed caught 
up in heavenly melody and held close 
to the heart of God. 

And from a window in a distant 
part of the city little Peter’s face 



THE ROYAL DESCENT 


25 


looked out, its great longing changed 
into great peace. His own small gift 
had made the chimes ring out at last. 

70. Prolonging the Christmas Joy. 

The time to clinch a nail is when 
you drive it. And very often the best 
time to fix a good thing in our hearts 
is while it is still fresh and new and 
we are experiencing the new-found 
joy of it. So just while we are in 
the midst of the Christmas spirit and 
the Christmas joy, it may be well for 
us to covenant to continue for our¬ 
selves this joy and satisfaction 
throughout the year. For once that 
that purpose is firmly fixed in our 
hearts, it will be easy for us to find 
the way to do so .—Herald of Gospel 
Liberty. 

71. The Royal Descent. 

The Gospel opens with Christ’s 
genealogy, thereby connecting Him 
with the past in Jewish history. Be¬ 
ginning with Abraham, Matthew 
traces Christ to David, and then on to 
Joseph, the husband of Mary. It is 
well known that there are differences 
between Matthew’s and Luke’s gene¬ 
alogy, for Luke, beginning with Jesus, 
traces the descent through David’s 
son, Nathan, up to Adam. The best 
explanation is that Matthew gives the 
genealogy of Joseph, while Luke gives 
the genealogy of Mary, for Joseph as 
the husband of Mary would be quite 
sufficient to make Jesus of the line 
of David. Thus one is the royal, the 
other the natural line. Matthew shows 
Jesus as the King of the Jews, and 
Luke depicts Him as the Saviour of 
the world, and both of these are true. 
— W. H. G. Thomas, D.D. 

72. The Christmas Christ as Prom¬ 
iser. 

Among the curiosities of the Bank 
of England may be seen some ashes 
the remains of some banknotes that 
were burned in the great fire of Chi¬ 


cago. After the fire they were found 
and carefully put between boards and 
brought to the bank. After applying 
chemical tests, the numbers and value 
were ascertained, and the Bank of 
England paid the money to the own¬ 
ers. If a human promise can be worth 
so much, how much more is the prom¬ 
ise of God I 

All the promises of God are yea 
and amen in Christ—the Christmas 
Christ.— H. 

73. Gates and Doors. 

There was a gentle hostler 
(And blessed be his name!) 

He opened up the stable 
The night Our Lady came. 

Our Lady and Saint Joseph, 

He gave them food and bed, 

And Jesus Christ has given him 
A glory round his head. 

So let the gate swing open 
However poor the yard, 

Lest weary people visit you 
And find their passage barred; 

Unlatch the door at midnight 
And let your lantern’s glow 
Shine out to guide the traveller’s feet 
To you across the snow. 

There was. a courteous hostler 
(He is in Heaven to-night) 

He held Our Lady’s bridle 
And helped her to alight; 

He spread clean straw before her 
Whereon she. might lie down. 

And Jesus Christ has given him 
An everlasting crown. 

Unlock the door this evening 
And let your gate swing wide, 

Let all who ask for shelter 
Come speedily inside. 

What if your yard be narrow? 

What if your house be small? 

There is a Guest is coming 
Will glorify it all. 

—Joyce Kilmer. 

74. Having and Getting. 

The most obvious lesson in Christ’s 
teaching is that there is no happiness 
in having and getting anything, but 
only in giving I repeat; there is no 
happiness in having or in getting, but 
only in giving. And half the world 
is on the wrong scent in the pursuit of 
happiness. They think it consists in 
having and getting, and in being 
served by others. It consists in giv¬ 
ing, and in serving others. He that 
would be great among you, said 
Christ, let him serve. He that would 



26 


THE UNIVERSAL CHRIST 


be happy, let him remember that there 
is but one way; it is more blessed, 
it is more happy, to give than to re¬ 
ceive .—Professor Drummond. 

75. The Universal Christ. 

Italy celebrates Garibaldi, but Italy 
alone; Germany recalls Bismarck and 
the old Emperor, but not France; 
France remembers Napoleon, but 
England despises him; no foreign na¬ 
tion keeps Washington’s Birthday. 
What a tribute to greatness would be 
found if some one hero could com¬ 
mand the admiration of a foreign 
people. But Jesus belongs unto all 
the nations of the earth. He reigns 
supreme as the universal Master. 

76. Christmas Means Christ. 

A gentleman once gave his children 
a dissected map of the United States 
to put together. They puzzled over it 
for quite a while, and then were 
about to give it up, discouraged, be¬ 
cause they could not make everything 
fit. Accidentally, one of them turned 
a piece of the map over and discov¬ 
ered on the back of the picture a 
part of a man’s hand. Turning an¬ 
other piece, they found a part of a 
man’s face. After they had exam¬ 
ined other pieces, with similar re¬ 
sults, it dawned upon them that it 
would be easier to put the picture 
together by the back than by the 
front, and the result was a picture of 
Washington on the one side and the 
map of the United States on the 
other. 

There is a lesson here for us, the 
learning of which will solve many of 
life’s problems. 

So the Word of God is a picture of 
Jesus. There may be that which is 
called doctrine, and that which we 
call biography, and that which we 
call parable, and that which we call 
poetry, and that which is chronological, 
and questions that concern author¬ 
ship; but the purpose of it all, from 


Genesis to the Revelation, is to reveal 
Jesus the Son of God, that we may 
live on Him by faith; feed on Him, 
the living Bread from heaven. 

77. The Christmas Christ a Pattern. 

Of old, a young apprentice picked up 
the chips of glass dropped by the 
master who was completing an oriel 
window for the cathedral. Bringing 
those chips together so as to repeat the 
face of a lustrous angel that had ap¬ 
peared to him in a vision of the night, 
the boy constructs from the fragments 
one of the priceless gems of art. And if 
thy duties seem humble, thy hours 
fragments, thy tasks broken and ob¬ 
scure, behold, the Christ is a pattern 
who can transform these fragments 
into a dream of spiritual beauty. All 
inspirations toward knowledge, all 
stimulants toward supremacy of mind 
have their supreme excellence in that 
divine One, who is higher than earth’s 
noblest spirits, wiser than earth’s most 
gifted teachers, purer than earth’s 
whitest martyrs. 

78. A Christmas Legend. 

Perhaps the children of to-day who 
are wistfully awaiting a view of the 
tree may like to hear the legend of the 
first Christmas tree, and yet it may 
not be legend merely, but history beam¬ 
ing through the mists of tradition. It 
is an old German story that Saint Wil¬ 
fred transformed the heathen Teuton 
worship in the forest into the Christ¬ 
mas ceremony. About 732, with a 
band of priests, he sought to convert 
the worship of Thor. On Christmas 
Eve, fighting their way through the 
snow in the dense forest, they found a 
savage tribe assembled under a thun¬ 
der oak symbolic of the god of thunder, 
Thor. The white-haired priest of the 
cult was about to offer as a sacrifice 
the son of the tribe’s chief. Wilfred 
rushed forward and warded off the 
arm about to slay the child. The 
tribesmen were delighted at the saving 



A CHRlSTLfiSS WORLD 


27 


of their favorite, and became converts 
to Christianity. The saint took his 
axe and started to cut down the oak. 
As it was about to fall lightning 
rended it into many parts, and in its 
place there sprang up a slender fir tree, 
green and sparkling. They bore it to 
the chieftain’s hall, and ’round it made 
merry. It was about this first Christ¬ 
mas tree the old, old story was told, 
and the Teuton tribes became in time 
all Christians. 

Oh that we all may become Chris¬ 
tians, Christ’s ones, as we gather about 
the Christ Himself at this blessed 
Christmas season! 

79. When the Wise Men Returned 
Home. 

We are told nothing on the sacred 
page about their homeward journey, 
but we may think, if we choose, of 
the caravan’s stately progress, of its 
marches by day and its rests by night 
until the Wise Men with their wonder¬ 
ful story again sat in their own tent 
doors and talked with the folk they 
had left behind. They would never 
again be the same that they had been 
before their pilgrimage. The blessing 
that came to them when they knelt be¬ 
fore the Babe in the Manger would 
abide with them the remainder of their 
lives, for none can see the Christ and 
worship Him in childlike humility and 
after that be satisfied with the mere 
pomps and vanities of this transitory 
•\yorld. 

Old friends and neighbors and the 
dear ones around them would find 
them gentler, stronger, more sympa¬ 
thetic, more courteous than ever they 
had been, and would sometimes say 
“there must have been something very 
beautiful that came to pass for Caspar, 
Melchior and Balthasar when they 
were gone from us that long and weary 
time, when the Star led them to the 
Land of Judea.” 

May this Christmas so result in our 
lives.— H. 


80. The True Christmas Spirit. 

In “Little Women” there is a story 
told by Louisa Alcott out of the ex¬ 
perience of her own early days. The 
four children who are her heroines, 
knowing of a neighbor in need, go in 
a little procession and carry her their 
breakfast. Another incident may be 
recalled. It may not have been pre¬ 
cisely Christmas-tide, but it was winter 
and the weather was bitterly cold. The 
stock of wood was low, and night had 
fallen when there came a knock at the 
door. A shivering child stood there, 
saying that her mother had no wood, 
that the baby was sick and the father 
gone on a spree. She begged for a 
little wood. “Divide our stock with 
her,” said Mr. Alcott, “and we will 
trust in Providence. The weather will 
moderate or wood will come.” No 
wonder that the children trained in the 
Alcott household grew up heedless of 
privation and generous to those whose 
need was great. This is the true 
Christmas spirit. If our Christmas- 
tide is pervaded by real unselfishness 
we shall manifest to every one the love 
that Christ brought to the world. 

81. A Christless World. 

What would be the effect of blotting 
Christmas out of the calendar of the 
world? No story of the wondrous 
birth to tell! No salvation from sin! 
No comfort in trouble! No hope in 
looking out into the beyond! A 
Christless world, reeking and stagger¬ 
ing under its burdens of suffering and 
sin into absolutely black, starless 
night! A Christless world! That 
would mean a heathenish world. Read 
pagan history, or the history of the 
times when the people had either for¬ 
gotten or had wandered far away 
from God—from knowledge of Him or 
service to Him—times such as the 
world saw just previous to Christ’s 
birth into it, and what a heathenish 
world it was, what an awful condition 
it was in! We get at least some sug- 



28 


legend oe the wise men 


gestion as to what it would mean if 
there had been no Saviour. 

It would mean a hopeless world. 
Christ is the hope of the world. Christ 
put life into the world. Christmas 
Day has been well called, “The Birth¬ 
day of Hope.” 

It would mean a paralyzed word, 
for where there is no hope there is no 
action. When the swimmer saw that 
the would-be rescurers could not reach 
him he ceased to make effort. He gave 
up in despair and sank at once to the 
bottom. Men will not try for better 
things where there is no hope. Christ 
energizes the world because He is the 
hope of the world. 

It would mean a lost world. Lost! 
A lost world! If there had been no 
Saviour. 

“It may be possible to think of an 
ocean without a harbor, of a sky with¬ 
out a sun, of a garden without a liv¬ 
ing flower, of a face without a smile; 
but we are confronted by the unthink¬ 
able in this—a world with holiness and 
happiness left in it and the Christ gone 
out of it.”— H. 

82. A Legend of the Wise Men. 

When the three wise men were trav¬ 
eling on their long journey from the far 
East, talking by day of the King whom 
they sought and gazing by night upon 
His star it chanced that one of them 
—it was the one who carried the gift 
of costly, but bitter myrrh, and loved 
greatly the creations of God from the 
greatest to the least—saw near the 
road a little plant which bore many 
delicate blossoms, some as blue as the 
eastern sky and some as white as the 
foam of the western sea. The wise 
man had never seen the plant before, 
for none of its kind grew in his coun¬ 
try, and he hastened to alight from his 
camel and knelt before the tiny flowers 
and thanked God for their beauty, and 
set up a mark, that, on his return, he 
might find the rare, strange plant and 
carry it home with him. And he 


plucked two of the fair flowers, and 
preserving them with great care car¬ 
ried them safely all the way until he 
came into the “house where the young 
Child was with Mary, his mother.” 

When he knelt before the Heavenly 
Babe, and laid at His feet his offering 
of costly myrrh, suddenly he thought 
of the strange blossoms so precious to 
him, and these also he offered to the 
Child, who, smiling divinely on the 
giver, took into His tiny hand the two 
flowerets, blue as the eastern sky and 
white as the foam of the western sea. 

Then the wise men, “warned of 
God,” departed to their own country 
by another way, and he who had 
plucked the flowers was for a moment 
sad, saying, “Since we go by this other 
way I shall never again see the strange 
plant with its lovely blossoms; and 
even the two flowerets I have no 
longer. Yet the way we take is the 
will of God, and the flowers—oh, what 
joy it was to give them into the hand 
of the Holy Child! The memory of 
His smile is beyond all thought dearer 
than the flowers of the whole wide 
world. Truly, all is well!” 

So, with joy and thanksgiving the 
three went on, until, after many days, 
early in the first flush of the dawn, 
they came to their own country. And 
when the wise man who had plucked 
the flowers and given them to the Holy 
Child stood at his own house, lo! there, 
beside the door, fair in the morning 
light and glittering with crystal dew- 
drops, grew the strange plant, all 
abloom with lovely blossoms as blue 
as the eastern sky and as white as the 
foam of the western sea. 

So had his lovely giving been 
blessed; and so is it that, in all times 
as well as in that time of old, gifts 
freely and gladly given to Him who 
was the Child of Bethlehem are given 
back with great gain, even though 
sometimes the giving back is not 
known till after a long journey into a 
country very far away. 



CHRISTMAS IN THE TRENCHES 


29 


Don’t be selfish. Don’t be afraid to 
give to the Christ. He that watereth 
shall himself be watered. He that 
giveth shall receive. Is not this a 
blessed fact and a good lesson for us 
all at this blessed Christmas season? 

83. Christmas Says, “God is Love.” 

An evangelist preaching in the out¬ 
skirts of London saw a ruffian stealing 
up to him with a club. He repeated 
the little gospel, “God so loved the 
world.” The ruffian stopped. Again 
the verse was repeated, and the ruffian 
slunk away through the crowd. The 
next day he found the evangelist in his 
home and in his room found Christ. 
“I have two boys, and I love them. 
If God gave the Son He loved, I can 
hold out no longer.” These were his 
words. The Christmas story is truly 
the story of God’s unspeakable love.” 
— H. 

84. Givers of Themselves and Their 

Own. 

Rev. Dr. John Kelman says: “If 
we may so far follow tradition, it is 
worth while to remember that these 
men, opening their bales of treasure, 
brought gifts each from his own land. 
The gold was from India, the frank¬ 
incense from Persia, and the myrrh 
from Arabia. They did not say that 
these, the products of their own lands, 
were common and everyday things, 
and set about procuring statues from 
Greece or tin from Britain. They 
brought what they had. So, for us 
all, the gift that Christ will value 
most will never be that which grows 
in somebody else’s country. It will not 
be some better or nobler thing than 
what you have, but just that. 

“Of course, in the fullest sense of 
the words, this means that strange 
and precious gift—yourself. ‘Your 
own redeemed personality’ is the one 
gift which Christ desires and will 
value. Nay, your own personality, 
very incompletely redeemed as yet. 


We are not what we might have been, 
we are not what we ought to be, we 
are not what we hope to be; but such 
as we are, we may give ourselves to 
Him, and the gift will not be re¬ 
jected.” 

85. Silent at Christmas. 

“We managed to find time for 
church and for three celebrations of 
the holy communion,” wrote Admiral 
Sir John Jellicoe after the Christmas 
Day of 1914 had passed. The guns 
were manned, and all was ready for 
action if necessary, but the observance 
of the Christmas season was not over¬ 
looked. 

An officer of the Queen’s Westmin¬ 
ster Rifles wrote to a London paper 
after the Christmas of 1914 had 
passed: “Our section was on fatigue 
duty. On Christmas eve we carried 
wood up to the firing line from dark 
until one o’clock in the morning. All 
the time there were singing, cheering 
and trumpet calls along both lines, and 
the Germans had lights all along their 
front. We were walking with our 
wood in bright moonlight, but not a 
shot was fired at us. Next day would 
have made a good chapter in Dickens’ 
‘Christmas Carol.’ Many of our chaps 
walked out and met the Germans be¬ 
tween the lines. I was photographed 
in a group of English and Germans 
.... I had quite a talk with three of 
four, and have two names and ad¬ 
dresses in my notebook.”— Rev. W. J. 
Hart, D.D. 

86. Christmas in the Trenches. 

It is said of a returned English 
soldier that, when he was being com¬ 
miserated on the loss of his arm in the 
trenches, he replied, proudly: “I didn’t 
lose it, I gave it.” Glorious reply. 
What a transformation of our stew¬ 
ardship if we could think of our 
tithe not as the payment of a debt, but 
as the offering of a gift! What a 
transfiguration of our service if we 




3 ° 


CHRIST A TRANSFORMING GIFT 


could list it as a heart impulse instead 
of a conscience pull! What an en¬ 
noblement of life if we could live it 
as a gift to the world! When a man 
gives his health or his time or his 
money—or his life—you cannot talk 
to him about being robbed. He has 
forestalled the comment. Jesus said, 
“No man taketh my life from me; I 
lay it down.” Such ought to be the 
spirit of His disciples. This is a good 
spirit for us to seek at this Christmas 
season. 

87. The Word Was Made Flesh. 

“The word was made flesh and dwelt 

among us.” John 1: 14. It is a law 
of our republic that no man may be 
elevated to the presidency unless he be 
born within our national boundaries. 
No matter his blood and breeding, his 
diplomatic skill and mastery of men, 
to become the supreme leader and com¬ 
mander of our people he must begin 
life with us. So the Son of God had 
to be born even as we, had to live 
among us, had to beautify the com¬ 
monest circumstances of life by His 
own touch, had to redeem life first by 
living it .—Robert Freeman, D.D. 

88. The New Power. 

In a wood-yard stood a circular saw. 
Fifteen men operated it. Then a gas- 
engine was purchased, which made the 
saw do as much work in one and a 
half hours as the fifteen men did in a 
whole day. The machinery was right, 
but it needed to be attached to a new 
power. So do we need to be attached 
to a new driving force—the living 
Christ. This Christmas Day let Christ 
into your life. You will have new 
power.— H. 

89. She Was Fully Satisfied. 

One of Dr. Campbell Morgan’s re¬ 
cent stories related to a poverty- 
stricken fish-wife who was found on 
Christmas Day eating a Christmas 
dinner which consisted of a piece of 


bread and a toasted herring. Her vis¬ 
itor said something to her of the 
poverty of the fare, and the old wom¬ 
an, with face aglow, replied: “Poor 
fare? Dear heart, don’t you see the 
Lord has laid tribute on sea and land 
to feed me this blessed Christmas 
Day?” 

90. “Good Will Toward Men.” 

There is a beautiful piece called 
“Eagerheart.” Eagerheart had heard 
that the King was coming to the city, 
and she prepared her house to receive 
Him. She was so happy at the honor 
that was to be done her that she 
could hardly wait until the time came 
when the King was to arrive. 

When all was ready and everything 
was shining brightly, a knock came to 
the door of Eagerheart’s house, and 
when she opened it she saw there a 
poor man, a common tramp, it seemed, 
and his wife and little child. He 
begged for a night’s lodging. But 
Eagerheart, expecting the King every 
moment, cried, “Not to-night; any 
night except to-night.” The tramp 
sadly made answer, “They all say that 
—any night but to-night.” And he 
turned to go away. But Eagerheart’s 
heart was touched. She could not see 
the forlorn family turn away into the 
cold night. “Come back,” she cried, 
“and good-by to all my dreams.” So 
she took them in and gave up the 
thought of entertaining the King. But 
a little later a knock came to the door, 
and Eagerheart found some people 
inquiring for the King. “He is not 
here,” said she, but they replied, “O, 
yes, he is.” And then she found that 
the child that she had sheltered was 
the King. Eagerheart showed good 
will toward men, and in doing so she 
showed good will to Christ, the King. 

91. Christ a Transforming Gift. 

The life dream of Dr. Lorenz was 
to become a famous surgeon, but at 
the age of thirty, when fast rising to 



WILLING MEN AND A LEADING STAR 


3i 


the top, he contracted eczema which 
unfitted him for his work. In despair 
he threatened to blow out his brains. 
Said some one to him, ‘‘If you cannot 
get along with wet surgery, try dry 
surgery.” We all know the result, 
how he became the greatest operator 
in bloodless surgery that the world 
has ever known. The circumstances 
that opposed him forced him into better 
and larger things. “Amplius” is in¬ 
delibly stamped upon this “gift,” for 
transformations are wrought by the 
“gift” within us, or circumstances 
without, forcing us ever onward and 
upward to the best and highest. 

Christ enters the life as the sunlight 
enters the ice, completely changing 
its nature. 

When a king confers a patent of 
nobility the notification does not oc¬ 
cupy much space, but it transforms a 
life. It is thus with the slight action 
of accepting Christ. 

Gifts for which we must beg are 
not gifts at all, and the Christmas gift 
is urged upon us by the Giver. 

92. God’s Great Christmas Gift. 

The greatest power in this “gift” is 
love. Just as “the sun kisses the earth 
and it blossoms with flowers,” so this 
“gift” kisses the human heart, and it 
blossoms with “the fruit of the Spirit,” 
the greatest of these being love. 

93. Christmas Created Again. 

The coming of Christ made Christ¬ 
mas. Every day and hour He is com¬ 
ing anew to some saved soul and 
Christmas is created again. Christmas 
says that Christ has come and is still 
coming .—William T. Ellis. 

g4. No Room for Christ. 

When they are all counted, it is a 
surprisingly small group that gathered 
around the cradle of Him whose com¬ 
ing meant for all the world a day 
gladder than any that had gone before 
it. To-day also it is cause for sur¬ 


prise that the truth now so well known 
is so largely neglected. In much of 
the world to-day there is still no more 
room for Christ than in the inn of 
old .—Christian Endeavor World. 

95. Child and Saviour. 

Dr. Arnold, of Rugby, the great 
English school, used always to salute 
his schoolboys by taking off his hait 
when he passed them on the street. 
“You can never tell,” he said, “whether 
or not you may be passing a future 
prime minister of Great Britain.” 
There is little in a child or a boy to 
indicate what he will become. There 
certainly was nothing about Jesus as 
He lay in the cradle at Bethlehem to 
show that he would become the Sav¬ 
iour of the world. There was nothing 
to indicate that God had come into 
our lives and was not only to share 
our sorrows, but give himself up on 
the cross to redeem us. Let us bring 
our worship to Jesus, and our gift£i, 
and our love, and our obedience. Let 
us make Him our Friend and Com¬ 
panion.— Rev. R. P. Anderson. 

96. The Greatest Gift. 

Every year we make gifts to our 
friends at Christmas time. Every 
year thousands of dollars are spent 
for this purpose. Every year many 
costly gifts, representing in some 
cases much love, are given. But the 
most costly gift ever given and the 
one showing the most love was given 
on the night when the angels sang. It 
was God’s great gift to the world, and 
is still being given to each one who de¬ 
sires it. “For unto you,” unto me, un¬ 
to each of us, is born a Saviour. This 
is one priceless gift that you may be 
sure to have. 

97. Willing Men and a Leading 

Star. 

Mere knowledge of truth is not 
enough to bring one to Christ. The 
Jewish religious leaders were ready 



132 


THE UNIVERSAL SAVIOUR 


enough with an answer to the ques¬ 
tion where He should be born, but 
there is no hint that one of them was 
enough interested to go one step to¬ 
ward Bethlehem. The strangers from 
the east with less knowledge were fa¬ 
vored with the leading of the star be-' 
cause they were eager to follow it 
through the long journey .—Christian 
Bndeavor World. 

98. No Christmas Grouch. 

No man should ever carry a grouch 
through the Christmastide, nor resume 
it after the festival is over. Indeed, 
the very atmosphere of the season, 
long before the gala day arrives, 
should fertilize and render fruitful 
every friendly impulse of the soul, so 
that personal appreciation shall ripen 
into practical friendliness toward all 
with whom we meet or mingle, in¬ 
cluding the millions of whom we have 
only heard, and thus invoke and culti¬ 
vate the spirit of Jesus whose love for 
publicans and sinners led Him to die 
for an unfriendly world. 

99. A Christmas Etching. 

The Boy Who Looked Wistfully in 
at a Store Window. 

He was just a little lad and I found 
him on Market Street a week before 
Christmas. He had just one paper 
left and it was nearly midnight. The 
boy could hardly have been more than 
eight. He should have been at home 
with his mother. Yet that one paper 
must be sold even if it was an early 
afternoon edition. But he was not on 
duty now. He was looking in at a 
window where a big ten-dollar coaster 
in all its aristocratic pride stood wait¬ 
ing for some rich man’s son. I saw 
a look in that lad’s eyes that made me 
want to slip up close to him and watch 
him. I noticed, as I casually stepped 
closer, a big doll near the coaster, 
but I did not connect that with the 
boy’s wistful look. Poor blind me I I 
only thought of the coaster that would 


surely go to the rich man’s son. My 
vision was so tiny that night! And 
all the time, as I watched that ragged 
boy’s face with its wistfulness, I 
thought he was hungering for that big 
coaster. 

“What is it, my boy?” I could stand 
the look of his yearning face no longer. 

“It’s that big doll, sir! Say, but my 
baby sister would go daft over that. 
Ain’t it the beaut, sir? And it makes 
me hungry inside to think she can’t 
have it. It kind’a makes me want to 
cry, fer I git to feelin’ funny inside 
every time I pass this window and see 
that doll.” 

And the wistful face of the lad 
etched its way into my heart.— Rev. 
W• L. Stidger. 

100. The Universal Saviour. 

The Christ of Christmastide sug¬ 
gests the universal Saviour. “Thou 
shalt call His name Jesus, for he shall 
save His people from their sins.” Not 
only the Jew, but the Gentile; not 
only the rich and cultured, but also 
the poor and uneducated; not only the 
moral, but the immoral. The best and 
the worst of humanity alike need this 
Saviour. “There is no difference, for 
all have sinned and come short of the 
glory of God.” No amount of polish 
or veneer can rid the soul of sin. Only 
the power of the Christ that was born 
on Christmas Day can purge the soul 
of its vileness. Those who live in 
marble and brownstone fronts need 
this Saviour just as much as Jerry 
McAuley, Sam Hadly, or Mel Trotter. 
The redemption provided is for the 
whole world, but only those who be¬ 
lieve on him can share the joy of the 
gift of this Saviour.— B. F. D . 

101. Need of the Christmas Christ. 

Courtland Meyers tells of a visit to 

India, where he saw a great monu¬ 
ment upon an elevation, on which stood 
a Mohammedan soldier who shouted 
something about God and Mohammed, 



LOVE CAME DOWN AT CHRISTMAS 


33 


his prophet. Doctor Meyers begged 
permission to stand on that elevation, 
and when the request was reluctantly 
granted, he shouted with all his might, 
“Jesus, highest over all,” and that 
voice echoed and reechoed to the 
highest peaks of the Himalayas. The 
sound of that dear name is yet to en¬ 
circle the world, until the whole race 
of man has heard of the Saviour that 
was born on Christmas Day. 

“Sweetest note in seraph’s song, 
Sweetest name on mortal tongue. 
Sweetest carol ever sung, 

Jesus, blessed Jesus.” 

This world is just as much in need 
of Christ to-day as when He came on 
that first Christmas night. The sin 
and darkness of the world is as great 
now as it was then. We had four 
awful, terrible, unexampled years of 
war and bloodshed. We have entered 
upon a period of peace, and yet there 
is no peace. The whole world seems 
out of joint. There is conflict in many 
quarters of the globe. The social un¬ 
rest, political agitation, industrial an¬ 
tagonism, race riots, murders, and sui¬ 
cides are evidences of a world out of 
harmony with itself and its God. Not 
education, legislation, or reformation 
can remake the world. The power of 
regeneration coming from the Christ 
of Bethlehem’s manger and Calvary’s 
cross alone is sufficient. This is the 
only hope for a sin ruined world; and, 
thank God, He can perform the miracle 
of transformation.— B. F. Daugherty, 
D.D. 

io2. Christmas Presents a Saviour. 

Far over in Africa one day a mis¬ 
sionary passed through a village. He 
stayed only a few hours, but while he 
was there he gathered the people to¬ 
gether and told them about Bethlehem 
and the wonderful Child who was 
born there. You know the story well, 
but to these poor black people it was 
all new. Among the crowd was a little 
black boy, who during the talk did not 
take his eyes off the minister’s face. 

3 


The minister smiled at him when he 
said good-bye, and asked him if he 
liked the story. He nodded his head 
and smiled back. “Then,” said the min¬ 
ister, “tell it to someone who needs 
Christ’s help very much.” 

After the missionary had gone the 
boy thought right away of a poor 
little fellow who had a cruel master. 
When he found him he told him as 
best he could about the Christ. “I 
am going to find Him,” the secoqd 
boy said. “Is He at the station at 
Kuruman ?” 

“I think He must be there,” said the 
other little black boy, “because they 
sing songs about Him there.” 

So the boy started on his search. 
He found the station. They told him 
there more of the wonderful story. 
He did not see the Babe of Bethlehem, 
but he found the Saviour in just the 
same way that anyone can find Him 
—by going to Him in prayer with a 
loving, trusting heart. 

103-. Love Came Down At Christ¬ 
mas. 

The sainted B. F. Jacobs used to tell 
of a Sunday-school convention in 
which a heated discussion on a certain 
subject occurred. Among the dele¬ 
gates present was a German. He lis¬ 
tened patiently until it seemed to him 
that patience had ceased to be a virtue, 
and then jumped to his feet and said 
emphatically, “Bredren, vot ve need is 
more of dot leedle vord spelt mid dree 
letters, 1-u-v, luv.” 

When the laughter had subsided, Mr. 
Jacobs arose and said, “If 1 -u-v does 
not spell ‘love,’ what does it spell?” 

Love is the note of Christmas. Love 
is the key to the problem of the broth¬ 
erhood of man. Love is to prevail 
more and more in the world as Christ 
becomes known. 

Love came down at Christmas, love 
all lovely, Love Divine. 



34 


CHRISTIANITY’S VALUATION OF A CHILD 


104. Keeping Watch Over Their 

Flocks. Luke 2:8. 

Tolstoi tells a lovely little story of 
two pilgrims who set out for Jeru¬ 
salem. Yelesei stopped to help a 
starving family. He bought food, 
fetched water, split wood, started the 
great oven fire, nursed and fed the 
sick, redeemed the mortgage on the 
home, and bought back the cow, horse, 
and scythe with which the living was 
yarned. His money was all gone, and 
he could not hope to overtake his com¬ 
panion on the road, so he returned 
home and devoted himself again to 
daily duty. Yefim would not pause to 
help any one. He reached Jerusalem, 
visited the sacred places, obtained 
earth from Calvary, water from the 
Jordan, and blessed amulets of every 
kind, but because of the throng he 
could not reach the Holy Sepulcher. 
Yet, “under the lamps themselves 
where the blessed fire burns before 
all,” he saw a vision of Yelesei, wear¬ 
ing a halo of shining glory about his 
head. For Yefim had brought his 
body to the Holy Land, but Christ 
Himself had come to the soul of 
Yelesei. “And he learned that in this 
world God bids every one do his duty 
till death,—in love and good deeds.” 

The shepherds were keeping watch 
over their flocks—doing ordinary duty 
—when the Christmas vision came to 
them.— H. 

105. Christianity’s Valuation of a 

Child. 

“When Herod the king heard it he 
was troubled, and all Jerusalem with 
him.” Matt. 2:3. What a tremen¬ 
dous change in the world’s thought 
concerning children and childhood the 
following incident narrated in The 
London Mail indicates: “The ten- 
year-old daughter of a bricklayer in 
Liverpool was assaulted and left for 
dead. Traffic in front of the house 


where she lay was stopped on the day 
of the funeral. Fifty constables kept 
the way clear, and twenty thousand 
people attended the burial.” Bethle¬ 
hem had no such standards of child 
valuation. Herod could assault and 
leave for dead Bethlehem’s first-born, 
and a sad wail was the only protest, 
but with the advent of Christ there 
came a better day for children .—The 
Rev. William T. Dorward. 

106. Offered Unto Him Gifts. 

“They offered unto him gifts, gold, 
and frankincense, and myrrh.” Matt. 
2:11. An Oklahoma missionary, the 
Rev. Walter Roe, of Colony, tells this 
story. In our little church in the West 
our Indian elders were taking jup the 
offering, when a little group near the 
door detained them. A tall Indian 
stood and addressed the missionary. 
**We have no money to give, but will 
you take our child ? May we give 
him to Jesus?” It was a touching 
scene. We told the parents, whose 
hearts were made so tender, that God 
was grateful for their gift to him; 
that in a few years we could take and 
use the boy, but that just now, by re¬ 
maining with them in their faithful 
home life, he would be made ready for 
usefulness for God. We, the mission¬ 
aries, would help him as he came to 
school each day. With what beaming 
joy the parents returned home with 
their child, because they had been 
ready to sacrifice, but God was willing 
for them to keep! Some one adds, 
“There seems to be an Abraham and 
Isaac in Oklahoma.” 

107. The World and Jesus. 

“The world knew him not.” John 
1:10. Christ was unrecognized by 
His own world. Mary E. Coleridge, 
the great-great-niece of the famous 
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, reminds us 
of the loneliness of Jesus in the very 
hour of His birth: 



CHRIST CAME TO STAY 


35 


“I saw a stable, low and very bare, 

A little child in a manger. 

The oxen knew him, and had him in their 
care, 

To men He was a stranger. 

The safety of the world was lying there, 
And the world’s danger.” 

108. The Message of Christmas to 

You. 

What is the message of Christmas to 
you? Is it that Christ was born in 
a manger of far-away Bethlehem, or 
that He has been born in your heart? 

Is it that angels sang, while shep¬ 
herds watched their flocks by night, a 
song of peace and good-will toward 
men, or that in your heart and life 
that song is being sung? 

Is it that the wise men of old 
brought gifts to the infant Jesus, of 
gold and frankincense and myrrh, or 
that you have brought to the glorified 
Christ the gifts of your substance, 
your talents, your life ?—Thomas Cur¬ 
tis Clark . 

109. Our Christmas Groups. 

We cannot but miss some loved 
faces in the Christmas groups, for 
there are in most homes vacant chairs. 
As Dr. Chadwick has said: 

“It singeth low in every heart. 

We hear it each and all— 

A song of those who answer not, 

However we may call. 

They throng the silence of the breast; 

We see them as of yore— 

The kind, the true, the brave, the sweet. 
Who walk with us no more.” 

But there is no jar in our Christ¬ 
mas jubilation because of the absent 
who have gone home.— M, B. S. 

no. Christ Came to Stay. 

There is not one good thing in the 
universe that the coming of Christ has 
not developed or introduced. How 
could we have known the love of 
God without him? How much would 
God’s promises have meant to us? 
What could we have done with all our 
sins without the Christ to prove and 
bear? Would universal brotherhood 
have meant anything to us, without 


His brotherhood to us? Where would 
there have been an ideal human 
enough to draw us without the per¬ 
fect Man Jesus? Oh, let us thank 
God, with our foreheads touching the 
dust of the earth, that Christ came, 
and that He came to stay. 

in. Christmas Lullaby. 

Sleep, Holy Babe, 

Upon Thy mother’s breast; 

Great Lord of earth and sea and sky. 
How sweet it is to see Thee lie 
In such a place of rest. 

Sleep, holy Babe, 

O take Thy brief repose— 

Too quickly will Thy slumbers break. 
And Thou to lengthened pains awake 
That death alone can close. 

—Edward Caswell. 

112. Christ the Jewel. 

An artistic setting is intended to 
“show off” a jewel; so the design of 
your life and mine should be to glorify 
Him. But the jewel does far more 
for the setting than the setting can 
do for the jewel; and while your life 
may glorify Him, it is He who really 
glorifies your life, when He becomes 
its center. He is the attraction, as 
John the Baptist recognized when he 
said: “He must increase, but I must 
decrease.” 

113. Christ Welcomed. 

You are laughing in my human breast, 

O, little Heart of God, 

Sweet intruding stranger, 

A Christ-Child in a manger, 

Heart, dear Heart of God. 

—Nicholas Vachel Lindsay. 

114. Her Christmas Visit. 

On Christmas eve a call was heard 
on the verandah. It came from one of 
the Zenana pupils from a village where 
the Bible women work, and they sup¬ 
posed that she had come for her annual 
present of material. One of the mis¬ 
sionaries told her that her gift was 
not ready yet, but that it would be sent 
later. She interrupted, saying with 
glistening eyes and a beaming smile: 
“I haven’t come for that; I have 
brought a present myself for the Lord 



36 THE MAGNIFICAT A SONG OF DEMOCRACY 


Jesus. It will be His birthday to-mor¬ 
row, and I want Him to have this be¬ 
cause I love Him.” And from the 
fold of her sari she produced a four 
anna piece .—Jane B. James. 

115. At the Manger. 

The little congregation that sur¬ 
rounded the Christ on that Christmas 
morning was but a type of the uni¬ 
versal Church. Each came drawn by 
an influence peculiar to himself. The 
Wise Men from the distant East knew 
the stars by their faces. But there 
was a stranger among the constella¬ 
tions. It beckoned them on to the 
Christ. Not so with the shepherd. 
The stillness of the country made 
them acute to every sound. They 
heard voices. The frosty night broke 
forth in praise. It was the song of 
the Advent sifting through the stars. 
So we find Christ to-day, not in oth¬ 
ers, but ourselves. 

116. Keep It True. 

Florists praise a flower if it is 
“true to type”; that is, if it may be 
cultivated indefinitely without return¬ 
ing from the loveliness that careful 
nurture has impressed upon it to its 
wild state. When it was small and 
homely Christmas—the first Christ¬ 
mas—was the act of self-giving 
raised to the highest degree of beauty. 
Let us keep it “true to type .”—Amos 
R. Wells. 

117. Honor the Christmas Christ. 

A little Sunday-school girl objected 
strenuously to being taught a Christ¬ 
mas hymn in which the religious 
thought was prominent, on the ground 
that Christmas “isn’t Sunday-time, 
but just fun.” She “liked songs 
about jingle-bells and such things on 
Santa Claus Day!” 

The child phrased exactly the mod¬ 
ern childish appreciation of Christ¬ 
mas, and her mental attitude is not 
to be wondered at. Haven’t we 


brought the children up to think so? 
Haven’t we made it a gift-day and a 
day of jollity, almost to the exclusion 
of any tenderer or more sacred senti¬ 
ment? Have we not, in a word, been 
chiefly honoring Santa Claus instead 
of the Christ? 

118. The Magnificat a Song of 

Democracy. 

Mary’s song is the song of a real 
democracy. Christ did not come in 
the midst of royal purple. What¬ 
ever distinctions there are among men 
the gospel story levels them all. As 
we stand at the manger all differences 
disappear, for we are one—there 1 
What a world it would be if we main¬ 
tained the relationship established by 
the Bethlehem manger. Well did 
Mary sing that God had regarded her 
low estate. God taught us that all 
human estates were equal in His Son. 
There is only one aristocracy; it is 
the aristocracy of heaven; and those 
who are admitted into the charmed 
circle enter, not by reason of royal 
earthly birth, but by reason of their 
faith in the Son of God.— Rev. W. H. 
Geistweit, D.D. 

119. Christmas Shoppers. 

A little Jewish girl from the East 
Side of New York, who secured work 
in a store during the holiday season, 
met with an accident, and was min¬ 
istered to in her sufferings by a 
trained nurse. She looked appealingly 
into the face of the nurse, and asked 
incredulously, “Is it true that you are 
a Christian?” Upon being answered in 
the affirmative, she replied, “You are 
so polite and gentle, I didn’t think you 
could be; but then the only Chris¬ 
tians I’ve seen are Christmas shop¬ 
pers.”— C. B. World. 

120. The Journey of the Wise Men. 

“The first Christmas, as Matthew 
tells its story, witnessed a beautiful 
search for the world’s Saviour. There 




THE MUCH-NEEDED MESSAGE 


37 


is nothing finer or more pathetic in 
all history than the journey of the 
Wise Men. The Greeks who came to 
the last Passover Jesus attended, to 
inquire after him, and the Oregon 
Indians who came all the way to 
Washington to ask of General Clark 
that a teacher of the Christian re¬ 
ligion be sent them, are parallel in¬ 
stances.” 

121. Seeking the White Man’s God. 

“Where is He that is born King of 
the Jews?” Matt. 2:2. Earnest 
seekers after truth always make an 
impression. In the year 1832 several 
Indians of the Flathead tribe, living 
on the Pacific Coast, crossed the 
Rocky Mountains, and, traversing the 
thousand miles of intervening wilder¬ 
ness, appeared at St. Louis. They 
had been sent by their chief to in¬ 
quire about the white man’s God and 
the book that revealed Him, of both 
of which they had heard from a 
hunter, who told them they were all 
wrong in their worship, and that far 
to the east the white man had a book 
that revealed the true God. The story 
of these earnest seekers aroused such 
interest in the Indians of the north¬ 
west coast that a missionary was soon 
after sent to them .—The Sunday 
School Journal. 

122. Christmas Vision. 

It is related of Michael Angelo that 
when he came down from the scaffold¬ 
ing from which he had for some 
weeks been painting the frescoes of a 
high ceiling, he had become so accus¬ 
tomed to looking upward that it was 
with real pain he forced himself to 
turn his eyes to the ground. Oh, 
blessed engagement possible to these 
spiritual orbs of ours! Would that 
they might evermore be so arrested, 
habituated, held by the countenance of 
divine love, that we could never be 
satisfied to turn them from His face! 
Would that we could say with the 


Psalmist, “O God, my heart is fixed; 
I will sing and give praise. My 
heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.” 
Such engagement with God and 
fixing of faith upon Him is the 
way to peace, joy, triumph over temp¬ 
tation, and best preparation for the 
delights of the life to come—one chief 
element of whose felicity is expressed 
in the words, “They shall see His 
face.” At this Christmas season let 
us engage the vision of our souls 
afresh with God and Christ and the 
beauty of holiness. “Blessed are the 
pure in heart, for they shall see God.” 
—H. 

123. The Much-Needed Message. 

There is a famous painting by the 
artist, Mr. P. R. Morris, which shows 
Jsoeph in a tent watching Mary and 
the Christ Child as they play together 
just outside the tent door. The mother 
holds out her hands, the infant Christ 
is running with both hands extended 
into her arms. But the sun at His 
back throws a shadow between the 
mother and her boy. This shadow, 
formed by the body and extended arms 
of the child, is exactly the shape of a 
cross. The title of the picture is, 
“The Shadow of the Cross.” But 
this shadow had not yet fallen across 
her path, and Mary felt at first only 
the great joy that expressed itself ki 
a song of praise—that song which has 
justly been called the Magnificat. Sor- 
sow might come, but for the present 
she was content with the blessing 
which had come to her, and her happi¬ 
ness overshadowed everything else that 
might befall her. The song the angels 
sang to the shepherds was a message 
of peace and good will to all the earth. 
It was a much-needed message. In 
all the broad earth there was no peace. 
Men strove and contended for mastery, 
and there was no good will between 
man and man. It was good tidings 
indeed when promises came that men 



38 


CHRISTMAS AND OUR IDEALS 


were yet to beat their swords into 
plow-shares and their spears into prun- 
ing-hooks and learn war no more. The 
song of the angels was indeed a much- 
needed message.— H. 

124. Christmas and Our Ideals. 

In the gallery at Bergamo there is 
a fascinating picture of the Virgin 
Mother and the Holy Child, by 
Raphael. That picture has a history. 
When Napoleon the Great was con¬ 
quering Italy, Milan fell before him, 
and with it Bergamo. Napoleon was 
taking all the rare and precious pic¬ 
tures and sending them to adorn 
Paris. Lest this picture should be 
seized and lost to Italy, some one 
painted on its face a coarse and ugly 
picture, which, of course, Napoleon 
not knowing of the treasure under¬ 
neath, did not desire. When he was 
dethroned the rifled pictures were sent 
back to Bergamo. Among them hung 
this treasure of Raphael; but, in the 
painter’s hurry, there had been no 
mark left upon it and so it could not 
be identified, and where it hung among 
the other great and beautiful pictures 
no one could tell. At last, in the year 
1868, the daub began to scale away, 
and then reverent hands set about to 
clean the picture, and at last the long 
lost treasure shone forth again. 

Yes, and it is a glad and happy fact 
that a lost vision can be restored 
again. If over your fair life-ideal 
crude disfigurements have come, then, 
and especially at this Advent season, 
let me urge that you set about at once 
to restore the original. It can be done. 
Carefully remove the scales with 
which your worldliness has encrusted 
it; freshen up the spots time has de¬ 
faced; catch as much as you can of 
the lost hidden beauty while you work, 
and, thus honoring it, it will come out 
clear and clean and shine forth anew. 
- H. 


125. The Magic of Christ’s Birth. 

“The light shineth in the darkness.” 
John 1:5. An artist once drew a 
picture of a wintry twilight, the trees 
heavily laden with snow, and a dreary 
dark house, lonely and desolate, in the 
midst of the storm. It was a sad 
picture indeed. Then, with a quick 
stroke of yellow crayon, he put a 
light in one window. The effect was 
magical. The entire scene was trans¬ 
formed into a vision of comfort and 
good cheer. The birth of Christ was 
just such a light in a dark world. 

126. A Holiday Incident. 

Sometimes there will come to our 
notice in the busiest moments of the 
day some sincere sentiment which will 
stir the tenderest chords of our being. 
A pleasant-faced woman boarded a 
trolley car with her two small sons 
during the busy noon hour of the holi¬ 
day season. The smaller boy sat with 
his mother upon one side of the car, 
while the older, who was about four 
years old, took a seat opposite. It 
interested him to look out of the 
window, but frequently he glanced 
across at his mother. At length he 
called softly: “Mother!” No an¬ 
swer. Again he spoke: “Mother !” 
This time it was said a bit louder, 
and the mother looked over and 
smiled. The boy’s eyes lighted, and 
he whispered: “Mother! I love you.” 
The mother turned a glorified face 
upon her small son, and men and 
women in the car looked tenderly from 
one to the other. The trolley car had 
suddenly become a place of blessing 
because a little boy had voiced this 
ever-beautiful sentiment: “Mother, I 
love you.”— Zion's Herald. 

127. Real Giving. 

“For there is born to you this day 
in the city of David a Saviour, which 
is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2: 11. 

An acquaintance of the late Mrs. 
A-, whose charities were as secret 



HE DWELT AMONG US 


39 


as they were wide—spoke once of her 
habit of sending her carriage out with 
friends who were ill, or not able to 
afford the luxury of a drive. “She 
did not send the carriage,” quickly 
remarked a friend. “She went in it. 
The drive was not an alms. It was a 
pleasure to herself, which the invalid 
made pleasanter by sharing.” Jesus 
did not send His love; he brought it. 

128. Influence of Christmas. 

When the Boers advanced on Lady¬ 
smith in the Transvaal War some 
newspaper correspondents threw in 
their lot with the English army, in¬ 
stead of making a hurried retreat. 
One of these published a book con¬ 
taining many interesting incidents of 
the siege. “The enemy,” said he, 
“succeeded in placing 32 guns on the 
heights above the town, and kept up 
such an incessant fire that the troops 
and civilians were soon engaged in 
digging bomb-proof shelters. In a 
short time they learned to distinguish 
the different Boer guns by their sound, 
and gave them amusing names. Three 
of these large ones they called ‘Long 
Tom/ ‘Puffin Billy/ and ‘Weary 
Willie/ Then there was ‘Silent Susan/ 
so named because the bursting of a 
shell was the first warning we got that 
it had been fired. ‘Bloody Mary, as 
you may suppose, was looked upon as 
a beast of a gun. . . . On Christ¬ 
mas Day the enemy saluted the happy 
morn by salvos of shells. The first 
two that fell into the camps of Car¬ 
bineers and the Imperial Light Horse 
did not burst. When the shells were 
picked up it was found that wooden 
plugs had been inserted in the place 
of fuses, and inside the shells were 
plum puddings. On the outside were 
the words, ‘With the compliments of 
the season/ ” 

The associations of Christmas thus 
influence men on the battlefield, as 
is seen, until guns either lessen their 
destructive work or halt entirely for 


a time, or even send plum puddings 
and the compliments of the season to 
those whom they are supposed to de¬ 
stroy. When the deepest meaning of 
Christmas is understood by humanity, 
and its great message is allowed full 
power in the hearts of men, then 
destructive guns shall be forever silent, 
and army shall no more meet army 
bent on slaughter. The truce shall 
be not merely for an hour or a day, 
but for all time.— W. J. H. 

129. He Dwelt Among Us. 

The most wonderful event in all the 
world’s history was the Son of God 
becoming man. This happened when 
he was born as a babe in Bethlehem. 
He came into the world that He might 
get nearer to the people, and tell them 
of God’s love. A story is told of a 
Moravian missionary who went to the 
West Indies to preach to the slaves. 
But they were toiling all the day in 
the fields, and he could not get near 
to them. So he had himself sold as a 
slave and went among the other slaves, 
toiling with them in the fields, that 
he might tell them the story of God’s 
love. This illustrates in a way what 
Christ did.—■/. R. Miller, D.D. 

130. The Christmas Christ. 

Christ, the child of humanity, cov¬ 
ers the sin of humanity. That is the 
great Christmas message. 

A charming story brightens the dark 
annals of the career of Alexander the 
Great. Antipater wrote Alexander a 
long letter, setting forth many faults 
in the conduct of Alexander’s mother. 
The great conqueror replied: “Anti¬ 
pater does not know that one tear of 
a mother effaces a thousand such let¬ 
ters as these.” It is because Christ is 
God and the Son of humanity, that he 
has ordained that one genuine tear of 
contrition shall blot out all the tell¬ 
tale record that the great adversary 
and accuser of souls can make against 
us. 



40 


CHRISTMAS AND PEACE 


131. Christmas and Peace. 

From Greece and Persia and Egypt, 
says the legend, the three Wise Men 
came who followed the Star of Beth¬ 
lehem. One was fair, another swarthy, 
and the third was black, and they were 
enemies by reason of race and im¬ 
memorial wars. Yet the spirit of that 
Holy Night fell upon them and they 
journeyed together and laid their gifts 
at the feet of Him who was to give a 
new commandment—that men love one 
another. Must we confess that we are 
2,000 years behind the times ? Are we 
content that the world shall remain 
forever an armed camp, as in the days 
of the Caesars? Let us, too, gather 
wisdom, and, following the Star’s per¬ 
fect light, bring, each one of us some 
gift of service to help in establishing 
the reign of Peace on Earth, Good 
Will to Men.— Youth's Companion. 

132. The Great Birthday. 

“Unto us a child is born.” Isa. 9: 9. 
A gentleman visiting a friend for the 
first time had not long been seated 
when the little daughter brought out 
her birthday textbook. Turning over 
the leaves from January 1, he read the 
names of many of her friends. When 
he came to December 25 he found one 
line carefully written, “Dear Jesus 
Christ.” “But, Mary,” said the gen¬ 
tleman, “this is only for names of 
your friends.” Looking up into his 
face, her face flushing with joy, 
“Why, Jesus,” she quietly replied, “is 
my very best and dearest Friend, and 
that is the nicest birthday of all the 
year.” 

133. The Life was the Light. 

“The life was the light of men.” 
John 1:4. It is said that some years 
ago an institution for the blind was 
erected in a large town. The com¬ 
mittee decided that as the building 
was for the blind there was only a 
waste of money and no reason in go¬ 


ing to the expense of windows. 
Scientific ventilation and heating were 
provided, but no windows. Accord¬ 
ingly, the new blind asylum was 
opened, and the poor sightless patients 
were settled in the house. They be¬ 
gan to sicken one after another. After 
one or two had died and many were 
ill, the committee resolved to put in 
windows. Then the sun poured in, 
and the white faces of the pupils re¬ 
covered color, their flagging energies 
revived, their depressed spirits re¬ 
covered, and health returned. 

Jesus Christ is the Sun, the Light 
of the world. It is He who gives 
health and rest to the heart, and fills 
the soul with that peace which passes 
man’s understanding. — S. Baring- 
Gould. 

134. Christmas Worship. 

“And when they had opened their 
treasures, they presented unto Him 
gifts; gold, and frankincense, and 
myrrh.” The wise men came to wor¬ 
ship the new born King. What did 
they do? Did they pray? We call 
praying an act of worship, and so it 
is. Did they sing? We call holy 
song an act of worship, and so it is. 
Yet not by prayer nor by song did 
they first worship Christ. “When 
they had opened their treasures, they 
presented unto Him gifts; gold, and 
frankincense, and myrrh.” Giving 
was the first act of worship paid by 
mortal man to the Son of the Most 
High. Some people think the con¬ 
tribution box almost out of place in 
the house of God. They look upon it 
as an interruption of worship. But 
instead it is a part, and a most im¬ 
portant part of the worship. Those 
who object to the contribution box 
in church would have felt strangely 
out of place with the Magi in their 
house of the Lord—a scene over which 
the holy angels hovered.— H. 



CAN YOU DO IT? 


4i 


135. God Brought Near by Christ¬ 
mas. 

“For unto you is born this day in 
the city of David a Saviour, which is 
Christ the Lord.” A few years ago 
we had the privilege of studying, in 
the Rospigliosi Palace in Rome, 
Guido Reni’s great picture of “The 
Aurora.” It is on the ceiling and can 
be studied only with the greatest diffi¬ 
culty from the floor. But a mirror 
is so placed on a table that it reflects 
the picture and one can study it there 


with ease and pleasure. God is a 
Spirit; and he is in the heaven, 
“dwelling in light unapproachable.” 
It was not easy to know Him there. 
But the Incarnation, the Word be¬ 
coming flesh and dwelling among us, 
was the bringing of the reflection of 
the glorious person of God down to 
earth in human form and life. Men 
looked at Jesus and saw the likeness 
of God, “the express image of his 
person.” He was Christ, the Lord.— 
H. 


II. NEW YEAR’S DAY 


136. Janus-Faced January. 

The Romans had a god known as 
Janus. He was a powerful divinity 
and ranked among the first. Like 
many an one since, this god had two 
faces. The past and the future were 
alike to him. The past and the future 
were alike before him. His emblem 
was the key. The gates opened and 
closed at his command. Janus be¬ 
came our January. He sits at the 
gate and opens the year. Mythology 
was never a science and yet it made 
science possible. It was the shadow 
of better things to come. At this 
season we all become retrospective and 
prophetic. But most of us have more 
reliable memories than imaginations. 
We can see further into the past than 
into the future. The old year was 
new once. It was but yesterday, or 
so it seems, that Janus saw it through 
his front eyes.—/. L. S. 

137. Will and Try. 

On the keystone of a ruined Saxon 
castle may be seen an upstretched 
hand with this legend, “Will, God and 
I can!” It is at once a confession of 
faith and challenge to the world; as 
if the owner shouted from his battle¬ 
ments, “I am resolved to maintain 
mine own; and, God helping me, I 
can!” 


At the threshold of the year we 
want a watchword. Here it is; a 
watchword with the ring of Christian 
courage in it. No one knows who the 
lord of that castle was: 

“His sword is rust. 

His good steed dust, 

His soul is with his God, we trust,” 

But the flash of his eye and the 
strength of his soul live in that 
legend, “Will, God and I can 1 ”— 
D. J. Burrell , D.D. 

138. Broken Resolutions. 

At our house, when the water- 
pitcher gets broken, we don’t give up 
drinking water; we get a new water- 
pitcher and pitch right in again. That 
is the thing to do with broken reso¬ 
lutions. They do not represent luxu¬ 
ries, they represent necessities. Go to 
the shop and get fresh ones .—Russel 
Sewall. 

139. Can You Do It? 

“That is beautiful!” exclaimed the 
heathen, when the missionary had fin¬ 
ished telling what the Christian life 
meant; “can you do it ?” Over many 
a set of New Year’s resolutions the 
same exclamation would fit and the 
same question might be asked.— Sun¬ 
day School Times. 



42 


MAKING BEAUTIFUL YEARS 


140. New Year a New Start. 

Moses got his new start at the 
burning bush. He caught a new vis¬ 
ion of God and went forth. That is 
what we need in starting out on this 
new year. 

141. The Weaver’s Design. 

Life is a flying shuttle. But the 
pattern grows, the web is wrought. 
It takes both dark threads and golden 
to work out God’s design. You can¬ 
not judge the purpose of the Weaver 
by the thrust of one shuttle or the 
weave of one thread, whether it be 
dark or bright. “All things work 
together for good to them that love 
God.” We are yet on the loom. The 
shuttles are not yet empty. Give God 
time to put this and that, dark threads 
and bright, together, and complete the 
purpose of His providence. 

As we enter the new year let us 
think less of our present desire and 
more concerning the divine Weaver’s 
design. 

142. Our Father’s Plans. 

There is a story of a boy who left 
his home and went to the city alone 
for the first time. He set out with 
forebodings, but everything turned 
out better than his fears. The con¬ 
ductor was kind. A stranger sat be¬ 
side him and described the places they 
passed. A driver who knew exactly 
where he wanted to go was at the 
city station. When it was all over, he 
learned that his father had been with 
him all the day, in another car, plan¬ 
ning things for his comfort and send¬ 
ing helpful persons to him. Is not 
that the way God has been with us all 
the year? 

143. Following the Blue Print. 

What shall we do to make this New 
Year a really happy one? 

I answer by asking: “How shall the 
man who has undertaken the build¬ 


ing of a new house do his work, so 
that he will be happy in the doing of 
it; happier still when it is done; and 
more than that, so that the owner of 
the house will be happy to come in 
and make it his home?” 

The secret of the builder’s success 
is that big roll of paper which he car¬ 
ries about with him, and which we 
see him often unrolling and making a 
close study of. 

The roll is a “Blue Print.” It is 
the architect’s skillfully drawn “Plans 
and Specifications”; and the contrac¬ 
tor’s object in consulting it so often 
and so carefully is to make sure that 
he follow the architect’s directions 
with the utmost fidelity and precision; 
yes, even down to the very smallest 
and finest details; and the finer the 
work, the greater his anxiety to do it 
well.— Rev. Addison Ballard. 

144. New Year’s Here; Be Glad. 

The Christian philosopher may be 
poor, but he is not sad. His thoughts 
are not on the mishaps of the past. 
To the contrary, he always faces, 
hopefully, to the future. At New 
Year’s time he sings: 

Forget those things that gave distress, 

For New Year’s here! Be glad, be glad; 
Take up your task and joyful press 
The battle hard. Do not be sad. 

A brighter day awaits us all. 

If true to duty and to God; 
f\.nd if we’re smitten, still we’ll call 
On Him, and, trusting, kiss the rod. 

140. Making Beautiful Years. 

I have read of a young girl who in 
tacking up a new wall calendar, bear¬ 
ing the unfamiliar figures of the New 
Year upon it, said, with a prophetic 
tone of assurance in her voice, “It is 
going to be a beautiful year.” A 
friend standing by heard the girl’s 
prediction concerning the nature of 
the coming year, and, being curious 
to know what was in her mind, she 
asked, “How do you know it is going 
to be a beautiful year? A year is a 
long time.” “Well,” she said, “a day 



NEW YEAR IN HAPPY VALLEY 


43 


isn’t a long time, and I know it is 
going to be beautiful because I am 
going to take a day at a time to make 
it so. Years are only days, when you 
come right down to it, and I am 
going to see that every single one of 
these three hundred and sixty-five 
days gets at least one beautiful thing 
into it.” 

Of course, the girl prophesied out 
of the plan and purpose of her heart, 
which constitute the source and phil¬ 
osophy of each good day and year, 
and, likewise the secret of every beau¬ 
tiful life. Moreover, the incident 
serves to suggest the fact that each 
human life can be made beautiful, 
no matter what its environment may 
be. It also includes the very essence 
of David’s prayer for means and 
methods by which to achieve the goal; 
“So teach us to number our days, 
that we may apply our hearts unto 
wisdom.” 

146. The New Year Resolution. 

“Mr. Moderator, I move the accep¬ 
tance of the report and the adoption 
of the resolutions.” “I second the 
motion.” “You have heard the mo¬ 
tion. Any remarks? All in favor, 
say, Ay.” “Ay.” “The motion is 
carried. Next.”— Rev. John Kennedy. 

147. New Year in Happy Valley. 

Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, lived 
in “The Happy Valley.” The king, 
his father, abundantly provided for 
his maintenance and comfort. But 
the prince was lonesome and sad most 
of the time. The beauty of the moun¬ 
tain scenery had no charms for him. 
The royal munificence with which his 
every material want was supplied 
failed to make him happy. But God 
gives songs even in the night of ad¬ 
versity and gloom. He puts it into 
our hearts to thank Him even for 
slender supplies. He makes us con¬ 
tented with such things as we have, 
and happy even when visible support 


is lacking. (Phil. 4:11.) Let us 
live in Happy Valley this coming 
year. Let us trust God. Let us do 
the right. Let us be happy in His 
love.— H. 

148. Put Good Material in the 

Years. 

I have read of a wealthy philan¬ 
thropist who decided to help a con¬ 
tractor who had been unfortunate 
enough to lose all his money. He 
engaged him to build a house, allow¬ 
ing him to choose the material and 
to have entire control of every part 
of its construction. At last the house 
was finished, but the contractor had 
felt that this was an opportunity to 
recover some of his lost fortune, and 
had put into it the poorest material 
and the faultiest workmanship, never 
dreaming that it was to be his own 
house. But it was, for the owner 
said: “This house is for you and 
your family. It is my gift to you. 
You can live in it all the remainder of 
your lives.” Then the contractor was 
sorry that he had put such poor ma¬ 
terial and such faulty workmanship 
into the building. 

How clear the lesson! If we put 
shoddy material into our life-struc¬ 
ture, the loss will be ours, for we are 
building for eternity.— J. Y. Ewart, 
D.D. 

149. Way to a Happy New Year. 

To leave the old with a burst of song, 

To recall the right and forgive the wrong; 
To forget the thing that binds you fast 
To the vain regrets of the year that’s past; 
To have the strength to let go your hold, 
On the not worth while of the days grown 

old. 

To dare go forth with a purpose true. 

To the unknown task of the year that’s new; 
To help your brother along the road 
To do his work, and lift his load: 

To add your gift to the world’s good cheer, 
Is to have and to give‘a glad New Year. 

—Robert Brewster Beatty. 

150. Making the Year a Step in the 

Stair. 

The years ought to be ascending 
steps in the ladder of life. We should 



44 


TO-DAY IS KING 


always be going upward. Heaven is 
high—a place of perfect beauty and 
holiness. When we begin to live truly, 
we begin to climb toward heaven. It 
looks far away, so far that it seems 
to us we never can reach it. But we 
are sure that we can. We are not 
left to struggle up unhelped. There 
are always angels on the ladder, go¬ 
ing up and coming down—going up on 
our behalf to tell of our faith and 
our struggles, and then coming down 
to bring us help out of heaven. We 
need not doubt, therefore, that heaven 
is really within our reach and that 
through the help of God we shall 
some day enter its doors if only we 
are faithful .—American Messenger. 

151. Begin Again. 

“Waste no tears 

Upon the blotted record of the first years, 

But turn the leaf, and smile, oh smile to 
see 

The fair white pages that remain for 
thee.” 

Thank God it is always possible to 
begin again. 

152. Broken Ends. 

“I am an accumulation of broken 
ends,” said Queen Catherine of Rus¬ 
sia, as she contemplated projects she 
must leave unaccomplished. Job said: 
“My purposes are broken off.” That 
is the way life seems to most of us, 
and we usually realize it all the more 
keenly as we are closing up the old 
year and entering upon the new. 

But let us not allow ourselves to be¬ 
come discouraged. The great cable 
that holds the ship is made up only of 
a mass of tiny hempen threads. Each 
one is little more than a beginning and 
an end. The rope-maker has, however, 
twisted them together, so that each one 
gives its contribution of strength to 
the whole. 

We should not estimate the cable by 
the myriad ends that, protruding every¬ 
where, cover it. Nor need we estimate 
life by the purposes that are broken off. 


Little and great may be brought into 
one grand result, if all are spun to¬ 
gether in one consistent purpose of 
consecration. 

It is not our purpose to encourage any 
one to satisfaction with a life that is 
made up of “fits and starts,” of or men¬ 
tal promises of good to be done. A ca¬ 
ble is made of real threads, not threads 
of imagination. A useful life can not 
be lived in dreams. But when one is 
really working, and according to some 
intelligent purpose and plan, he is not 
to be discouraged because the stretches 
of usefulness seem short, and the 
“broken ends” of life seem to be so 
very many. Say “Whose I am and 
whom I serve.” Be Christ’s and serve 
Christ in all that you do. With such 
a motive weaving the threads of life 
together, even though each thread in 
itself seems a short and valueless thing, 
yet the result will be a strong cable, 
a useful life the Master will be glad 
to own. 

Let us weave the threads together 
more closely during the coming year. 
—H. 

i53- New Year Thoughts. 

Let us walk softly, friend; 

For strange paths lie before us, all untrod; 
The New Year, spotless from the hand of 
God, 

Is thine and mine, O friend. 

Let us walk straightly, friend: 

Forget the crooked paths behind us now, 
Press on with steadier purpose on our brow. 

To better deeds, O friend 1 

Let us walk kindly, friend: 

We can not tell how long this life shall last. 
How soon these precious years be overpast; 

Let Love walk with us, friend. 

Let us walk quickly, friend: 

Work with our might while lasts our little 
stay. 

And help some halting comrade on the way; 

And may God guide us, friend! 

—Lillian Gray. 

154. To-day is King. 

The poet Horace, though a pagan, 
had a relization of the pressing im¬ 
portance of To-day when he wrote: 
“Carpe diem,” seize, snatch to-day. 



FLYING MACHINES AND SOARING SOULS 45 


Emerson says: “Write it on your 
heart that every day is the best day 
in the year. No man has learned any¬ 
thing rightly until he knows that every 
day is doomsday. To-day is a king 
in disguise. To-day always looks 
mean to the thoughtless in the face of 
a uniform experience that all good and 
great and happy actions are made up 
precisely of these blank days. Let us 
not be deceived. Let us unmask the 
king as he passes.”— J. Y, Bwart, D.D. 

155. The Little New Year. 

Oh, I am the little New Year, oh, ohl 

Here I come tripping over the snow, 

Shaking my bells with a merry din; 

So open your doors and let me ini 

156. Flying Machines and Soaring 

Souls. 

At last we have come to the flying 
machine age. In our congratulation 
over this stupendous achievement, we 
may not forget, however, that the need 
for soaring is still more important 
than the need for flying bodies. It 
takes more than flying machines to 
cure man of his tendency to plod, and 
to be satisfied with himself in a hum¬ 
drum life. Only a frequently re¬ 
freshed resolution to keep his spirit un¬ 
trammeled and free can enable man 
to maintain his inheritance which is 
superearthly.— W. T. Bills. 

157. A New Year Celebration. 

In the island of Bali, one of the 
Dutch East Indies, near Java, the na¬ 
tive New Year’s festival, the most im¬ 
portant fete of the year, is signalized 
by a race between the sacred cows. 
These beasts are decked out for the 
occasion with ornamental devices at¬ 
tached to their horns, but their most 
striking decorations are huge bells, 
more than a yard in diameter, made 
of ornamental bronze and hung from 
their necks. The noise of these bells, 
as the cows are driven from post to 
post, arouses great glee among the 
natives. Let us celebrate the incoming 


of the New Year, but in a way more 
thoughtful and worthy.— H. 

158. Sealed Orders. 

Before me lies an unknown sea, 

The port is left behind; 

Strong waves are foaming at the prow. 
The sails bend to the wind. 

What is my quest? Why fare I forth? 

Not mine it is to say, 

He whom I serve has given command, 

I have but to obey. 

So to the everguiding Will 
My own I gladly yield, 

And while my little craft outstands, 

I sail with orders sealed. 

I may not read them if I would, 

I would not if I might; 

Not hold the duty less, but more, 

Whose chart is faith, not sight. 

Sometime, I know not when or how, 

All things will be revealed; 

And until then content am I 
To sail with orders sealed. 

—A dele F. Thompson. 

159. New Year Wisdom. 

A young artist who longed to travel 
and see wonderful scenes was forced 
to stay at home because of the neces¬ 
sity of supporting her parents. In¬ 
stead of gazing at Italian skies and 
Swiss mountains she could only look 
out from her basement studio upon 
three stone steps leading to a neighbor¬ 
ing house. One day she looked and 
exclaimed, “Here is something I do 
not have to travel abroad to see!” and 
rapidly she sketched what she saw, 
the stone wall, the three rough stone 
steps, and there in a cranny a sturdy 
dandelion with its green leaves and 
three vigorous flowers seemingly grow¬ 
ing out of the stone itself. She called 
her picture “Making the Best of it,” 
and into many homes it brought the 
lesson it had brought to her. 

160. “The Road to Hell.” 

A foolish proverb says that “the 
road to hell is paved with good res¬ 
olutions.” It would be far nearer the 
truth to say, “The devil trembles be¬ 
fore a good resolution,” or “The high¬ 
way to heaven is made of good reso- 



4 6 


THE SWIFT CURRENT: DRIFTING 


lutions.” Of course bad men make 
occasional good resolutions, and weak 
men make many of them, and, of 
course, many good resolutions are 
broken; but, just the same, if good 
resolutions were not made and kept 
there would be no progress and wise 
men and strong men make most of the 
good resolutions that are made, and 
they keep them, too. Never let me 
hear you use that proverb again!— 
Amos R. Wells, D.D. 

161. Forward in the New Year. 

A veteran of the Civil War tells us 
that when Pickett’s line made that 
charge at Gettysburg, which is des¬ 
tined to be long remembered, Briga¬ 
dier-General Armisted had actually 
broken and passed the Federal line, 
and thought the battle won, when he 
fell in the conflict. 

The color-bearer saw him fall, and 
forgot for the moment his own high 
commission as he stopped to raise his 
fallen chief. But the dying soldier, 
with his thought still on the cause and 
not on himself, waved the color-bearer 
off, and sternly said: “Carry the colors 
forward! Carry the colors forward l” 

The New Year calls us; and we 
must leave the dead past, and press 
forward to those things which yet 
await us. Yet the call is attractive, 
and the vision allures. 

The New Year is a golden gate of 
opportunity for us to enter. 

162. The Swift Current: Drifting. 

It is said that an eagle once swooped 
down upon a frozen lamb on a piece 
of ice in the Niagra River. The 
eagle would proudly lift its head every 
now and then as if to say, “I am drift¬ 
ing on toward danger, but I know what 
I am doing. I will fly away in time, 
for I know the strength of my wings.” 
When the eagle neared the falls, he 
tried to spread his wings and soar 
aloft, but, alas! while he had feasted, 
his feet had frozen fast to the dead 


carcass. He leaped and shrieked like 
a human being, beating the ice with 
his wings, but all in vain—with that 
frozen carcass the eagle went over the 
falls. 

Are not multitudes at the opening 
of this New Year drifting down the 
swift current of Time toward the abyss 
of doom, feasting upon corruption and 
reveling in intoxication ? They will be 
unable to shake off these entanglements 
of which they have become a part, 
when the roar of the cataract sounds 
in their ears.— Rev. B. W. Caswell. 

163. The New Year Comes. 

“The New Year comes with silent tread. 

New hope, new joy, new light to spread. 

It bringeth something new to each, 

And lessons old ’twill newly teach. 

It cometh, too, to take away 

Old griefs and woes which fain would 
stay! 

Oh, speed them, speed them, glad New 
Y ear! 

Come, cast out bitter doubt and fear. 

Speed in with silent, loving tread, 

New hope, new joy, new light to spread.” 

164. Saved “From Under.” 

A man went swimming with some 
friends, after whom he plunged in 
without measuring the current. They 
got across, while he exhausted his 
strength in trying to stem the cur¬ 
rent ; and when they came to his 
rescue he was about to sink. They 
each put a hand under him, and thus 
carried him safely ashore. Many peo¬ 
ple must be saved spiritually in that 
way—“from under.” Jesus gets under 
souls utterly lost and saves from under. 
As we sometimes sing, “He lifted me.” 
By the lever of this New Year he will 
lift into newness of life any struggling 
soul that will let go of sin, including 
the last rag of self-righteousness, and 
thus allow himself to be saved from 
under, which means the last desperate 
chance. 

The call of this New Year will be 
the last appeal to many, while for oth¬ 
ers it will offer the last desperate 
chance for a new life. 



LAST YEAR’S WEAK POINTS 


47 


165. Make it Better. 

An old painter of Sienna, after 
standing for a long time in silent medi¬ 
tation before his canvas, turned away, 
saying, “May God forgive me that I 
do not do it better!” May this prayer 
also be upon our lips, as with a glance 
backward we step out upon the thresh¬ 
old of this new year. 

166. A Transparent Slate. 

I once read a beautiful meaning to 
the text, “Leaving us an example that 
we should follow His steps” (1 Peter 
2:21). “Let us,” said the author, 
“write our lives over the life of Jesus” 
That gives the idea of a transparent 
slate, which even a wee child can trace 
over. So the great Master comes to us 
and says, “Write your life over mine 
carefully and faithfully.” Let us do 
it more carefully and more faithfully 
during this new year. 

167. Last Year’s Weak Points. 

A general, who had led his army a 
long and tedious journey through a 
wilderness, was about to encamp them 
for the night, when he received word 
that the enemy was planning to at¬ 
tack him at a certain point. “Double 
guard that point to-night,” was his 
order. If you want this year to be 
the best of your life, double guard all 
last year’s weak points. 

168. A New Year Presence. 

But let us not fail to recall that one 
great source of joy and peace and 
assurance is Christ’s promise to be 
with us all the way. There is to be a 
New Year Presence—“Lo, I am with 
you alway.” 

I am reminded of an incident which 
is said to have happened on one of 
the battle fronts of the Great War. 
This incident shows the courage and 
sympathy of King Victor Emmanuel 
III of Italy. In the midst of shell 
fire a lieutenant who had fallen, mor¬ 


tally wounded, called a soldier, gave 
him a few keepsakes to convey to his 
family, and then ordered him to fly. 
But the soldier tried to carry the lieu¬ 
tenant to a place of safety. Some 
gunners called to him through the 
infernal fire, “Save yourself. Save 
yourself 1 ” But still he remained. In 
the distance a motor horn could be 
heard, and the whisper went round that 
the King had left the field. The 
soldier still struggled with the officer’s 
body, but the lieutenant died in his 
arms. Flinging himself on the corpse, 
the young fellow exclaimed with tears : 
“Even the King has gone away 1 ” 
Then a hand touched his shoulder. 
He shook himself, rose and stood at 
attention. “My dear boy,” said the 
King, “the car has gone, but the King 
is still with you.” And there they 
remained till the end of the day. The 
King is still with us! He promises 
to continue with us through this year 
and all the years. 

I have read of a little boy who was 
sent on an errand. He was not a big 
boy, but a really little boy. About to 
start, he paused uncertainly in the 
doorway, “Mother,” he said in troubled 
tones, “it’s so far, and it’s a new 
road to me; I—I I’m not ’zactly afraid, 
but—couldn’t you go a little way with 
me?” She caught the anxiousness of 
the childish appeal, and said quietly, 
“Mother’ll go all the way with you, 
son.” And so, his little brown hand 
in mother’s, he walked the new way 
unafraid. As we stand at the begin¬ 
ning of the new, the unknown way, 
there is One who stands at our side, 
and He says, “Lo. I am with you 
alway, even unto the end.”— H. 

169. “Cornering” New Year Time. 

Men have cornered the stock market. 
They have cornered the wheat market. 
They probably have done wrong in 
doing so. But it is a good thing for 
each man to do, to decide in these open¬ 
ing days of the year to corner the time 



48 


DON’T FORGET THE COMPASS 


market. An apostle once commanded, 
“Redeem the time.” That means pur¬ 
chase it, buy it up. But we are to 
buy it up in order to set it free for 
service and in service. 

We may redeem the time, for one 
thing, in gaining useful knowledge. 

Elihu Burritt attributed his first suc¬ 
cess in self-improvement, not to gen¬ 
ius, which he disclaimed, but simply to 
the careful employment of those in¬ 
valuable fragments of time called “odd 
moments.” While working and earn¬ 
ing his living as a blacksmith, he 
mastered some eighteen ancient and 
modern languages, and twenty-two 
European dialects. Is not this sug¬ 
gestive of a valuable New Year,lesson? 
Corner your new year time. Chilo, 
one of the seven sages, was asked to 
say what is the hardest thing for a 
man to do. He replied: “To use and 
employ a man’s time well.” 

Upon the pulpit of the Metropolitan 
Church at Washington lies the Bible 
from which John Wesley read his 
text to crowds and mobs, and in later 
years to more orderly congregations. 
It was'printed in 1655, and is still in a 
good state of preservation. Upon the 
fly-leaf, in Mr. Wesley’s handwriting, 
are the words, “Live to-day.” Sugges¬ 
tive words; good New Year motto. 
—H. 

170. Don’t Forget the Compass. 

A ship was wrecked. As the sail¬ 
ors were making their escape in small 
boats, suddenly two of them sprang 
overboard swam back and entered the 
ship. They soon reappeared with 
something in their hands and swam at 
great risk back to their boats. They 
had forgotten to take their compass. 
As you set sail, Christian, into the 
great, unknown sea of the New Year, 
forget not to take with you God’s 
compass, which contains sure and 
explicit directions, for it is His com¬ 
pass alone that will guide you to the 


safest harbors and the strongest forti¬ 
fied ports. 

171. New Year Teaches Value of 

Time. 

A London financier lost a fortune 
through missing a train by a fraction 
of a minute. 

A Nebraska man lost a bride from 
the same cause. The young woman 
declared that she would rather re¬ 
main single than be worried all her 
life by a man so slow as to be late at 
his own wedding. 

Many another, through slight care¬ 
lessness in keeping an appointment, has 
seen the opportunity of a lifetime slip 
away. 

As cents are to dollars, so are min¬ 
utes to hours, and the saving of both 
is a necessity for the attainment of 
success. 

Let the New Year Day remind us 
and teach us the value of time.— H. 

172. Keeping On Year After Year. 

Workmen in bronze factories, as 
they labor upon the panels of massive 
doors, clean the surfaces, trim the 
edges, fill in the cavities, touch and 
retouch the outlines, shape and smooth 
and polish one part after another, and 
then go back and do the same thing 
over again. A visitor once said to 
one of the men, “I shouldn’t think you 
would know when you were through 
with this work.” “We are never 
through,” was the workman’s reply, 
“so long as they will let us keep at it. 
We stop when they take the panels 
away. That’s all the finishing there is 
to it.” One of the hardest lessons to 
learn, is that we must go over our 
character year after year, cleaning, 
trimming, shaping, smoothing, polish¬ 
ing, touching and retouching. But 
what a holy joy it will be if when He 
comes to take these characters away, 
they are “complete in Him!”— I. Q. M. 



GROW SOME NEW WOOD 


49 


173. New Year Duty. 

Tolstoy asked a Russian peasant 
what he would do if he were told 
that to-morrow would be the Day of 
Judgment. 

“I would plow,” said the peasant— 
and it was the best answer in the 
world. 

In Colonial times there was a “Dark 
Day.” It seemed as if the sun had 
forgotten to rise. People rushed to 
the churches to pray, for they be¬ 
lieved the Last Day had come. 

The Connecticult Legislature was in 
session. One trembling legislator 
moved an adjournment so that the 
members might prepare for the final 
smash. 

“I move,” said one whose name I 
forget, “that candles be brought so 
that we may go on with our work. 
If it is not the Day of Judgment, we 
have no reason to adjourn. If it is 
the Day of Judgment, let it find us 
doing our duty. 

Let the New Year find us doing 
duty.— H. 

174. New Year a Fresh Start. 

China is a country where they do not 
like to make fresh starts. Mr. Par¬ 
sons found there a bridge with steep 
sides that had once crossed a canal. 
The canal had become filled up, yet 
every day hundreds of Chinese toiled 
up the bridge and down on the other 
side, when they might have walked 
dry-shod beside it. Let us not be like 
the Chinese and afraid of taking a 
fresh start. 

175. Having Christ Jn the New 

Year. 

While spending the day with a com¬ 
pany of friends in the country, ram¬ 
bling through the woods and among 
the hills, a young woman picked up a 
bit of sweetbrier and stuck it in her 
bosom. She soon forgot that it was 
there, but all day long, wherever she 
went, she smelled the spicy fragrance, 
4 


wondering whence it came. On every 
woodland path she found the same 
odor, though no sweetbrier was grow¬ 
ing there. On bare fields and rocky 
knolls and in deep gorges, as the 
party strolled about, the air seemed 
laden with the sweet smell. As the 
party went home on the boat the 
odor was still present and she thought 
some one must have a bouquet of 
sweetbrier never dreaming that it was 
she who had it. When she went to 
her room that night, there was the 
sweetbrier tucked away in her dress, 
where she had carried it unconsciously 
all day. “How good it would be,” 
she said to herself, as she closed her 
eyes, “if I could carry such a sweet 
spirit in my breast, that every one I 
meet should seem lovely!” 

Every beautiful life, because of its 
nature and essence, as in the case 
of the sweetbrier, possesses the in¬ 
herent quality of sweetness, which is 
not sensed by the olfactory nerve, but 
by the discerning instinct of the soul, 
saved or unsaved. We may not be 
conscious of any beauty of life or 
fragrance of spirit in ourselves, but 
an experience of fellowship with 
Christ, to the effect that our life is 
hid with Him in God, will keep us in 
conscious possession of the fruit of 
the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, 
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
temperance, and all the other good 
things promised in the gospel. 

Let us take Christ with us into the 
New Year. 

176. Grow Some New Wood. 

When Longfellow was well along 
in years he was asked how it was that 
he was able to keep so vigorous and 
write so beautifully. His reply was 
to point to a blooming apple tree near¬ 
by and say: “That apple tree is very 
old, but I never saw prettier blossoms 
upon it than those which it now bears. 
The tree grows a little new wood 
every year, and I suppose it is out of 





50 


NEW YEAR HARP STRINGS 


that new wood that those blossoms 
come. Like the apple tree I try to 
grow a little new wood each year.” 
Try it yourself as the New Year 
begins. 

177. Grow this Year. 

A secret for New Year happiness 
may be found in cultivating the am¬ 
bition to grow larger this year. In 
an old fable there was a magic skin, 
the wearing of which would get a 
person everything he wished. But 
each wish that was granted shrank 
the skin; and by and by, when the 
wearer got what he wished, the skin 
squeezed his breath out. The fable 
is true. The magic skin is a false am¬ 
bition. Every time the false ambition 
is attained, the person shrinks. On 
the other hand, every time we promote 
a true ambition there is an expanding 
of the whole nature and an enriching 
of the whole being. There is happi¬ 
ness in it. Let us grow larger this 
year. Let us plan and resolve to do 
so.— H. 

178. Happy New Year. 

I do not know, I cannot see, 

What God’s kind hand prepares for me, 
Nor can my glance pierce through the haze 
Which covers all my future ways; 

But yet I know that o’er it all 
Rules he who notes the sparrow’s fall. 

Farewell, Old Year, with goodness crowned, 
A hand divine hath set thy bound. 

Welcome the New Year, which shall bring 
Fresh blessings from my God and King. 
The Old we leave without a tear, 

The New we hail without a fear. 

— Anonymous. 

179. Happiness in Self-Forgetful¬ 

ness. 

Courtship is probably the time of 
young people’s greatest happiness, and 
the reason is because each forgets 
“self” and thinks of “the other.” The 
duet is perfect. It is harder, however, 
to be self-forgetful when one is sing¬ 
ing a solo, and all others are cold 


and indifferent. Yet happiness is 
found even there. Thought for self 
is a canker that ruins joy. If you 
want to pile up trouble for yourself, 
get into the habit of thinking always 
about Number One. Here’s a hint 
on how to have a happy New Year. 
—H. 

180. New Year Harp Strings. 

A strange instrument hung on an 
old castle wall, so the legend runs. 
No one knew its use. Its strings were 
broken and covered with dust. Those 
who saw it wondered what it was and 
how it had been used. Then one day 
a stranger came to the castle gate and 
entered the hall. His eyes saw the 
dark object on the wall, and taking it 
down, he reverently brushed the dust 
from its sides, and tenderly reset its 
broken strings. Then chords long 
silent woke beneath his touch, and all 
hearts were strangely thrilled as he 
played. It was the master, long ab¬ 
sent, who had returned to his own. 

It is but a legend, yet the meaning 
is plain. In every human soul there 
hangs a marvelous harp, dust-covered, 
with strings broken, while yet the 
Master’s hand has not found it. Is 
your soul harp hanging silent on the 
wall ? Have you learned the secret of 
glad happy days? 

“Oh, could the tender Christ but brush 
away, 

And o’er the slumbering tones his fingers 
sweep, 

A world would pause to catch the echoing 
chord 

Of music, wakened ’neath the touch of 
God.” 

At the beginning of this new year 
open your heart to Christ. Let Him 
enter and repair the strings which sin 
has broken, and sweep them with His 
skillful fingers, and you will go out 
to sing through all the year. Only 
when the song of God’s love is sing¬ 
ing in our hearts are we ready for the 
day.—/. R. Miller, D.D. 



A GOLDEN GATE OE OPPORTUNITY 


5i 


181. Steadied for the Year. 

One time Carlyle and Bishop Wil¬ 
ber force were walking together and 
speaking of the death of a mutual 
friend. “Bishop,” said Carlyle sud¬ 
denly, “have you a creed?” “Yes,” 
was the answer to the other, “and the 
older I grow the firmer that creed 
becomes under my feet. There is only 
one thing that staggers me.” “What 
is that?” said Carlyle. “The slow 
progress that creed seems to make in 
the world.” Carlyle remained silent 
for a moment and then said, slowly 
and seriously, “Ah, but if you have 
a creed, you can afford to wait.” 

182. The Shadow of Past Years. 

A youth greatly desiring a position 
goes into an office in answer to an 
advertisement. The proprietor of the 
business explains to him that the na¬ 
ture of the work is such that he can 
employ only a good penman, and hand¬ 
ing him two pieces of paper says: 
“Copy those sentences on this sheet 
of paper and then we will talk busi¬ 
ness.” The youth takes his place at 
the table, he is anxious to write well; 
but while at school he had been care¬ 
less and indolent with writing, and 
now, when the test comes, the record 
of the past expresses itself in every 
movement of the pen, in the formation 
of each letter, and in humiliation he 
lays the result of his effort before the 
employer and passes out of the. office 
defeated. 

It is this peculiar feature of days 
gone by, this power of former years 
to cast their influence over our pros¬ 
pects and either mar or help them, 
that we call the Shadow of the Past 
Years. Perhaps we should more fit¬ 
tingly call it the substance of the past. 
The past years throw their shadow 
over our physical life. The past years 
throw their shadow over our mental 
life. The past years throw their shad¬ 
ow over our moral life.— Rev. Ralph 
C. Morris. 


183. A Golden Gate of Opportunity. 

We are standing at the beautiful 
gate of the New Year. It is a door 
of opportunity. The shortness of life 
is to many a spur to intelligent and 
enthusiastic effort. It calls for con¬ 
servation of strength. To others it is 
the excuse for dilatoriness and pro¬ 
crastination. During the war a sol¬ 
dier was tendered by the librarian of 
the camp a book and urged to learn 
to read it. He replied that he ex¬ 
pected to be killed anyhow and “didn’t 
want nothin’ on his mind.” This was 
an exceptional fellow, for most all of 
the men wanted to be at their best 
even when making a sacrifice for lib¬ 
erty. “So teach us to number our 
days that we may apply our hearts 
unto wisdom.” The divine tutorship 
is needed. Christ conserved His hours 
and finished His work. He is our 
example. 

184. Let Go. Let God. 

The story is told of a sculptor who 
worked on a piece of beautiful mar¬ 
ble but only marred and spoiled it. 
He became discouraged and aban¬ 
doned his work. Finally, the muti¬ 
lated block of marble was rolled into 
the back yard, where it remained un¬ 
noticed for a long time, exposed to 
the weather and half hidden by weeds 
and rubbish. But one day the famous 
Michael Angelo observed the marble 
and saw its possibilities. The result 
was the justly-admired statue of 
Young David, the Shepherd-lad, with 
sling in hand and stone in sling in the 
act of hurling the missile which laid 
Goliath low. But this beautiful statue 
was carved out of a block of mar¬ 
ble that had been marred and thrown 
aside as useless. Who will say that 
the great Master Artist of the Uni¬ 
verse, the Divine Sculptor of human 
character, can not take our broken 
and imperfect selves and fashion them 
into something noble and beautiful if 
we will let Him? 



52 


THE MOUNTING SPIRAL 


Now the practical question for each 
one of us is : Will we let Him ? Will 
you permit God to use you this com¬ 
ing year as He thinks best? Will 
you put yourself completely at the 
service of the King, to do the King’s 
business? Will you abandon worldli¬ 
ness and half-heartedness and be out- 
and-out loyal to Him who has bought 
you with the price of His own blood? 

185. The Mounting Spiral. 

It is marvelous to see an aeroplane 
mount the sky in one of the field 
trials, when the prize is offered to the 
aviator who can mount highest in the 
shortest time. 

The aeroplanes start like birds, run¬ 
ning along the ground and rushing 
upward into the sky, in long spiral 
sweeps, around and up. They are 
never far away or out of sight—just 
circling and rising above the field all 
the while, until they are mere specks, 
immeasurably aloft. The one that 
wins will probably be the one that 
rises highest without making too wide 
a sweep. 

The mounting spiral is the ideal way 
of reaching the heights in other 
things as well as in aviation. One 
who insists that it “keeps one down” 
to travel in a small routine circle 
forgets that this circular movement 
can be linked with rising steadily. 
A round of cares can become a round 
of winged thoughts too. Greatness 
has always mounted by doing its daily 
tasks well and going upward at the 
same time. 

So the thing to do is to get the 
mounting spiral into one’s daily liv¬ 
ing. At first, of course, it isn’t easy. 
Every aviator has to learn patiently, 
they say. But it can be mastered, and 
then comes the freedom of the sky. 

Here is a thought for the New 
Year. Do your daily tasks well and 
mount upward at the same time. Get 
the mounting spiral into the daily liv¬ 
ing.—//. 


186. Necessity of Good Resolutions. 

Good resolutions are absolutely nec¬ 
essary to moral and spiritual advance¬ 
ment. No bad habit can be broken 
unless we first resolve to break it. And 
no advancement can be made in the 
spiritual life without our determining 
that we shall advance. When Thor- 
waldsen was asked, “Which is your 
greatest statue?” he replied, “The next 
one.” “If I cease to become better,” 
Cromwell is said to have written in his 
Bible, “I shall cease to be good.” 
Even the best may be bettered. Indeed, 
it must be bettered if it is not to grow 
worse. We are meant to advance al¬ 
ways upon our past. All that we 
gain each year is meant to be, not a 
level on which we will stop, but a 
plane from which we will ascend. 
This means that we must plan and 
purpose to go on to better things,— 
that good resolutions are necessary 
to moral and spiritual advancement. 
For this reason, if for no other, good 
resolutions are a duty. 

But good resolutions are a duty al¬ 
so because God requires them of us. 
God believes .in good resolutions, even 
if some men do make light of them. 
The Bible is full of instances where 
God calls upon men to make good 
resolutions and sets it before them as 
duty; as, for instance, when through 
Joshua He called upon Israel to re¬ 
solve to give up idolatry; or when 
through Barnabas He exhorted the 
Christians at Antioch to purpose, or 
resolve in their hearts, to cleave unto 
the Lord; or when He calls upon us 
to choose Christ, to decide for Him, 
to resolve in our hearts to love and 
serve Him. This is a duty that should 
be pressed home upon us especially at 
this time of the year. Let us make a 
resolution in favor of Christ.— H. 

187. Saved by a Previously Made 

Resolution. 

When a man wishes to build a home 
he does not go out into the yard and 



SCRAP HEAPS OF BROKEN RESOLUTIONS 


53 


plunge his spade into the first sod he 
happens to light upon. No, before he 
builds he draws a plan and estimates 
the cost and signs his contracts, in 
which, as far as possible, even every 
nail and screw is provided for. And 
neither does man or woman build a 
character hap-hazard. That too must 
first have its period of plan-making 
and cost-estimate and contract. One 
thing you may be sure, you will never 
get good accidentally. There is no 
danger that you will waken up some 
fine morning and hardly know your¬ 
self because you have suddenly be¬ 
come so good. We must resolve and 
resolve and resolve again. And we 
must also try and try and try again. 
We must resolve on the mountain top 
and try in the valley. Good resolu¬ 
tions are often made in moments of 
exaltation that are forgotten when the 
feelings and impressions that gave rise 
to them have subsided. It is just 
at such a time that resolutions are 
needed. They are not needed at the 
moment we make them. The fact is 
that good resolutions are made for 
weak hours. Good resolutions are for 
the moment of trial, or the hour of 
service, or the time when some over¬ 
whelming temptation comes upon us 
suddenly. Then we need some fixed 
principle to fall back on. Then we 
are saved by the previously made reso¬ 
lution, which serves as an armor of 
defense when the enemy springs upon 
us. 

I remember reading that the late 
Dr. Henry Clay Trumbull made it a 
rule of his life never to walk be¬ 
tween the rails on a railway track. 
Once he was walking where there were 
a great many tracks, when suddenly 
he saw two trains rushing upon him 
from opposite directions. There was 
not a moment to think. He fell back 
on his previous resolution and stood 
still. His life was saved. The 
trains whizzed by him on either side. 
He was, according to his formerly- 


made resolution, between the tracks 
and not between the rails. The earlier 
resolution it was that saved him, when 
caught in a sudden peril. Just so, 
many a soul has been saved in the 
midst of a sudden and terrible on¬ 
slaught of temptation, just by some 
fixed resolution that was formed in 
an hour of calm or of spiritual ex¬ 
altation. People do talk jestingly of 
making new resolutions of good at the 
beginning of the year. But they jest 
with a sacred thing—a great pledged 
privilege which is in the very consti¬ 
tution of the year God has vouch¬ 
safed his children. For the very New 
Year Day is a token and covenant of 
the right of the foolish man, the 
mistake-making man, the sinning man 
to cast the past behind his back and 
take the future for all that he may be 
without prejudice from what he has 
been. Surely it is a poor cheap soul 
who can see in that privilege nothing 
to prize—nothing to accept with sol¬ 
emn joy.— H. 

188. My Scrap-Heap of Broken 
New Year Resolutions. 

My scrap-heap of broken resolu¬ 
tions—what can I do with it? Can I 
do anything with it? Not long since 
I had occasion to look at an old scrap- 
heap and I’ll tell you some of the 
things I saw. I have no idea where 
under the sun all the stuff came from, 
but there were pieces of old stoves 
and old wagon tires. I saw the beam 
of a plow, some farmer had used, one 
or two old iron window sills, barrel 
hoops galore, parts of a cider mill, 
and quite a lot of material that looked 
suspiciously like old railroad iron, I 
supposed it illegal for others to have 
in possession. I saw the hopper of a 
coffee-mill some woman had used in 
the kitchen, and old flat-irons without 
handles quite a lot. Sad-irons is the 
proper name for them, and some of 
them, handleless and rusty, looked 
sad enough I assure you. I suppose 



54 


MOVE YOUR TENT 


they are called sad-irons because they 
make the women so sad when they 
have to use them. I saw quantities of 
old lawn-mowers, that from their 
looks I doubt not had made many 
boys and girls and men and women 
too sweat good and hard to push them. 
There were parts of sewing machines, 
especially the legs, and old locks and 
hinges. I saw half a pair of skates, 
that no doubt some boy once got in 
his Christmas stocking. Of course, 
he had the other half at that time. 
There were several old mowing-ma¬ 
chines, and parts of an old stone- 
crusher. I looked for some automo¬ 
biles, but did not see any. I suppose 
they are too recent. But this I did 
see, crowning the top of the pile, a 
degenerate specimen of that recent 
king of roadsters, a bicycle. Though 
it looked it, it was impossible for it 
to have that pneumatic tired feeling, 
for the reason that it had no tires. 
But there were tons and tons of ma¬ 
terial, heaps upon heaps. 

And how useless it all looked. Yet 
it is not useless. That great scrap- 
heap is quite a fortune to the man or 
company that owns it. What can be 
done with it? You know. That great 
scrap-heap has been carefully gath¬ 
ered piece by piece. Some of the 
finest grades of iron and steels are 
to be found in it. Together with some 
limestone and some coke or charcoal 
that heap is to be thrown into a fur¬ 
nace, and under tremendous heat it is 
to be melted. It is to become new 
iron. If the materials are properly 
chosen some of it will become iron of 
the very highest grade that can be 
worked into even more valuable im¬ 
plements than any that were thrown 
into it. Thought, selection, heat— 
these will make that scrap-heap over, 
giving possibly better results than even 
at first. 

My scrap-heap of broken resolu¬ 
tions—what can I do with it? Throw 
it away ? Leave it where it is ? 


Never! Thought, selection, heat— 
remembrance, choice, resolve, prayer¬ 
ful, determined, will-enforced resolve, 
and that scrap-heap can be turned yet 
into best things possible in character 
and life and destiny.— H. 

189. New Year Opportunity. 

One was rummaging along the sea¬ 
shore gathering treasures of stone and 
shell. High on the beach lay a shell 
more beautiful than any yet discov¬ 
ered. He was searching in a dreamy, 
listless way, looking here and there. 
“That shell is safe enough,” he said. 
“I can pick that up at my leisure.” 
But, as he waited, a higher wave swept 
up along the beach, recaptured the 
shell and bore it back to the bosom 
of the ocean. How like the experi¬ 
ences of our lives is this! When the 
wave of another year has flowed 
back and off the shore of time, how 
many shells of plans, of opportunities 
of purposes toward noble and better 
life, lying there, you thought within 
your easy grasp a year ago, has it 
not swept into the irreparable past!— 
Wayland Hoyt, D.D . 

190. New Year Now. 

That was a wise thing that Doctor 
Johnson said in'his old age: “I have 
been resolving these fifty-five years; 
now I take hold on God.” 

191. The Upward Look. 

There is a tradition that Michael 
Angelo, by his prolonged and unre¬ 
mitting toil upon the frescoed domes 
which he wrought, acquired such a 
habitual upturn of countenance that, 
as he walked the streets, strangers 
would observe his bearing, and set 
him down as some visionary or ec¬ 
centric. 

192. Move Your Tent. 

A Dutch scientist has completed 
five years’ study in South America. 
He took some insects from Holland 



NEW YEAR DISCONTENT 


55 


into the rich tropic atmosphere, 
changed their environment, put them 
in a friendly environment, and gave 
them the best food. He expected to 
modify their coloring, having ex¬ 
changed the damp, foggy sky of Hol¬ 
land for the brilliant hues of the 
tropics. And lo! these insects 
doubled their size; the dim subdued 
tints became gay and brilliant. At 
last he discovered that insects that 
in Holland crawled, in the South 
spread their wings to fly and meet 
God's sun. More marvelous still is 
the way the soul can grow. Last year 
you lived in the damp, foggy mias¬ 
matic levels of selfishness; sordidness, 
like a cloud, wrapped you about. Sup¬ 
pose you take down your tent and 
move into the tropic realm of love 
and trust and hope. Open the soul's 
wings to the light, the sun and dew 
of God’s Spirit. 

193. New Year Discontent. 

There is a passage in Virgil that 
made a deep impression upon my col¬ 
lege days. Evander, the soldier, has 
come to the end of his career. Look¬ 
ing backward with bitter tears and 
regrets, he recalls the past. The pres¬ 
ent moment was big with opportunity, 
but he was unequal to its overture. 
Responsibilities were there, but his 
shoulders could not bear them up. 
An unexpected crisis had come, and he 
could not meet it. It was an hour 
for a leader who had a giant’s 
strength, and lo, Evander finds the 
grasshopper a burden. In his grief 
he exclaims: “Oh, that I was as in 
the day when I led my army out in 
the Valley of Praeneste.” How pa¬ 
thetic the hero’s cry, piercing the 
heart like a sword. Gone forever the 
physical energy that in his youth 
never tired. Gone the zest of living— 
life had run to its dregs. Gone the 
passionate ambitions, burning out like 
candles; gone all desire for the ap¬ 
plause of men. For that applause 


now seemed empty as crackling 
thorns. And the things Evander had 
lost were lost forever. We can re¬ 
visit old scenes, reopen old books, 
seek out familiar friends—we never 
can recover our lost years, and the 
opportunities that have fled. All 
man’s days lie on the bosom of eter¬ 
nity as snowflakes lie upon the river’s 
current. A moment there, then gone 
forever. There is one task to which 
even omnipotence is not equal—the 
task of recovering a wasted youth, 
and a lost year.— N. D . Hillis, D.D. 

194. So Much to Do. 

Cecil Rhodes arrived at the termina¬ 
tion of his career with the lamentation 
on his lips, “So much to do, and so 
little done”—which was, in effect, a 
confession of failure. A life spent in 
eager, feverish quest of things ma¬ 
terial is certain to come to its close 
with regret, if not despair. It lacks 
the glad glow and uplift that come 
from the constant performance of noble 
deeds in the name of the Master of 
men. It is dark because it has been 
selfish; it is disappointing because 
it has never risen to the royal levels 
of self-sacrifice. So much to do! 
Let us up and at it as never before in 
this New Year before us. 

195. Our Years Our Prayers. 

A great Southern statesman said to 
those who asked if some one should 
pray for him, as his pulse was fail¬ 
ing : “No; my life must be my prayer. 
This solemn moment is not so sig¬ 
nificant as the solemn years that are 
gone. Let them stand.” 

196. How the Years Tell. 

I am not simply what I am, but 
what I was, as well. As a tree gath¬ 
ers up all the growths of former 
years, and contains them in itself, so 
my life is the summary and sub¬ 
stance of all my past. All that I was, 
I am. What a solemnity this fact 



56 


LAMP OF EXPERIENCE 


gives to our daily living? Every to¬ 
day will soon become a yesterday, and 
then it will be fixed and stereotyped 
forever; but it will still be a part of 
myself. O man! O woman! look 
out for your to-days, if you would 
have your yesterdays look backward 
with a smile .—The Watchword. 

197. Friends for the New Year. 

One morning, many years ago, a 
young reporter on a daily paper had 
occasion to call with a message at the 
office of one of the foremost editors 
and publishers in the country. He 
saw signs of dissipation in the youth, 
and as they were parting, said: “Let 
me wish you a merry Christmas.’* 
He took from a shelf a book, contain¬ 
ing sketches of the lives of the great¬ 
est English, French and German au¬ 
thors, with extracts from their works. 
“Here,” said he, “are some friends 
for the new year. When you spend 
an hour with them, you will have 
noble company.” 

The surprise of the gift and the 
unexpected kindness from the man 
whom he regarded with awe had a 
powerful effect upon the lad. The 
book kindled his latent scholarly 
tastes. He saved his money to buy 
books. He numbered some of the 
foremost scholars and thinkers of the 
country among his friends. His life 
widened and deepened into a strong 
current, from which many drew com¬ 
fort and help. He died not long ago. 
During his illness the newspapers 
spoke of him with a keen apprecia¬ 
tion of his worth. “A profound 
scholar, with the heart of a child.” 
“A j ournalist who never wrote a word 
to subserve a base end,” they said. He 
read these eulogies with a quiet smile. 
One day he put into the hands of a 
friend an old, dingy volume. “When 
I am gone,” he said, “take this to 

Mr.-, and tell him that whatever 

of good or usefulness there has been 


in my life I owe to him, and this gift 
of his thirty years ago.” 

198. Lamp of Experience. 

Life holds many lamps that shine in 
the night, but the brightest is the 
lamp of experience. Would you know 
how to get the most possible out of 
this New Year? Consider well the 
mistakes of the old year. 

199. Living Helpful Lives. 

An old lady from a New England 
village had been taken by the niece 
whom she was visiting in the city to 
consult a young oculist. After a long 
life of steady use in the behalf of 
relatives, friends, and neighbors and 
poor people, her eyes had, as she ex¬ 
pressed it, “gin out jest a mite,” so 
that she had decided to get a pair of 
spectacles. “My dear madam,” said 
the young oculist, after a careful ex¬ 
amination, “there is no danger to be 
apprehended if you take proper pre¬ 
cautions, although your eyes at pres¬ 
ent are not in as good condition as I 
could wish. The glasses will be of 
great assistance, of course. Besides 
that, however, I should advise entire 
relaxation of the nerves for some time 
to come. You should be free from 
annoyance and excitement, and even 
from care for the next six months. 
And above all, my dear madam,” he 
added, impressively, “you should avoid 
all trouble and worry. Do not asso¬ 
ciate with sickness and distress. The 
effect of such things is to increase the 
difficulty which you at present experi¬ 
ence.” 

“Why child,” said the old lady, 
looking at the doctor with an expres¬ 
sion of gentle reproof in the eyes of 
which he spoke so glibly, “I guess you 
mistook my meanin’. I came to get 
fitted to a pair of specs. I wasn’t cal¬ 
culatin’ to wear ’em to heaven, but 
right here in this world o’ sin and 
trouble. I’m afraid maybe you’ll have 
to fit me all over again!” Live the 



THE PATH THAT LEADS TO YESTERDAY 


57 


new year right here. Make it a year 
of help to others. 

200. Now! 

The New Year bell rings out its 
solemn call alike to those who are 
Christians and those who are not. To 
this latter class it will be a “happy 
New Year” if they will secure Jesus 
Christ as their Friend at once. If 
you say, “I will do this as soon as 
my business is in better shape,” you 
are bargaining with Satan who is sure 
to cheat you. If you say “I will de¬ 
cide for Christ by-and-by,” you are 
deciding against him. Take the first 
step at once, and put the hand of your 
faith into that loving Hand that was 
pierced for your sins. Do this promptly 
and perhaps a bell of joy may be 
rung for you in heaven. Brother 
Christian, determine to make this the 
best year of your life the richest, 
ripest, strongest, happiest. But you 
cannot grow in grace by “wholesale.” 
Begin the year by putting the knife 
into some bad habit or besetting sin. 
Begin by laying stiff hold on some 
neglected duty. Consecration means 
letting Jesus Christ own the whole of 
you. Holiness means serving Christ 
in little things; and remember that 
in all the year you will see only one 
day and that will be called “to-day.” 
The ladder to heaven is climbed, not 
by a leap, but round by round.— Theo¬ 
dore L. Cuyler, D.D. 

201. The Restored Altar. 

The testimony of John Randolph 
was, “I should have been an atheist 
had it not been for the recollection and 
memory of the time when my mother 
used to take my little hand in hers 
and cause me on my knees to say, 
“Our Father who art in Heaven.” 
The New Year, with all its joyous, 
gladsome messages, calls us to a recog¬ 
nition of the claims of God upon our 
family life. Why not begin the New 
Year with a resolve to restore the 


family altar if it has fallen into de¬ 
cay, or to establish it if it has never 
had a place in the home life? 


202. The Path that Leads to Yes¬ 
terday. 


I once saw advertised a play with 
the above title. If a man is growing 
worse day by day, the path that leads 
to yesterday, if he could but travel 
it would take him back to the purity 
of life that he once possessed; but, 
if he is becoming better continually, 
the path to yesterday would lead him 
back into the ways of sin. But yes¬ 
terday’s path is trodden its last time. 
We may look back upon it with pride 
or with regret, still, the past is past. 
With regard to the opportunities of 
life, they are all “yesterdays” after 
they have past, and there is no road 
leading back to them. 

203. A Year’s Walk with God. 

Like Enoch, walk with God this 
new year. But remember that to walk 
with God you must walk in the direc¬ 
tion in which God goes. You must 
not thwart his plans nor attempt to 
cross his purposes. Two cannot walk 
together unless they be agreed. Re¬ 
member that God will not change. You 
can safely follow him. 


God will not change: the restless years may 
bring. 

Sunlight and shade—the glories of the 
spring, 

And silent gloom of sunless winter hours, 

Joy mixed with grief—sharp thorns with 
fragrant flowers; 

Earth-lights may shine awhile, and then 
grow dim, 

But God is true: there^ is no change in 
Him .—The Christian Observer. 


204. A New Year Hope. 

Long years ago, on a day of thick 
fog and pouring rain, I ascended a 
mountain by an old bridle-path over 
the slippery rocks. A weary, disap¬ 
pointed company we were when we 
reached the cabin on the summit. But 
toward evening a mighty wind swept 
away the bank of mist, the body of the 



58 


A STONE OF REMEMBRANCE 


blue heavens stood out in its clear¬ 
ness, and before us was revealed the 
magnificent landscape stretching away 
to the sea. That scene was at the 
time, and has often been since, a ser¬ 
mon to my soul. It taught me that 
faith’s stairways are over steep and 
slippery rocks, often through blind¬ 
ing storms; but God never loses His 
hold on us, and if we can endure to 
the end He will yet bring us out into 
the clear shining after rain. 

“So it’s better to hope though the clouds 
run low. 

And to keep the eye still lifted; 

For the clear blue sky will soon peep 
through 

When the thunder cloud is rifted.” 

—Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D. 

205. The New Year. 

A flower unknown: a book unread; 

A tree with fruit unharvested: 

A path untrod: a house whose rooms 

Lack yet the heart’s divine perfumes; 

A landscape whose wide border lies 

In silent shade ’neath silent skies: 

A wondrous fountain yet unsealed: 

A casket with its gifts concealed: 

This is the year that for you waits 

Beyond to-morrow’s mystic gates. 

—Horatio Nelson Powers. 

206. A Stone of Remembrance. 

The story of Hezekiah, whose 
“good reign” is one of the marked 
biographical records of the Old Tes¬ 
tament, -tells us that “they began on 
the first day of the first month to 
sanctify (to set themselves apart) 
and on the eighth day of the month 
came they to the porch of the Lord: 
so they sanctified the house of the 
Lord in eight days, and in the six¬ 
teenth day of the first month they 
made an end.” Then they went to 
worship with zeal, regularity and a 
new consecration. They called to re¬ 
membrance the sins of Ahaz, and de¬ 
termined upon a new start in faith¬ 
fulness to duty and to God. It was 
a time of reformation and consecra¬ 
tion. They undertook a great work, 
and fixed the period for beginning on 
the first day of the year. God was 
to be sanctified in their thoughts, af¬ 


fections, plans, purposes, and in all 
their ways. They would sanctify His 
name, His day, His house and His 
ordinances. With Samuel they could 
say, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped 
us,” when he set up a stone between 
Mizpah and Shen and called the place 
Ebenezer. 

The new year offers us opportunity 
to set up a stone of remembrance and 
of consecration.— H. 

207. New Year Experiment. 

Yesterday morning I made a little 
experiment with the sunshine which 
astonished me with its results. The 
thermometer out of doors stood at 
twenty-six degrees. At the back of 
my room it stood at sixty-eight de¬ 
grees. I took the thermometer from 
the back of the room and stood it in 
the window where the sun shone full 
upon it through the glass. When I 
returned from my work to look at it 
after a few minutes, I was aston¬ 
ished to find that the thermometer 
registered an even hundred degrees, 
and after it had stood in the window 
an hour it registered a hundred and 
five degrees . I had no idea that there 
was so much heat, even in the full 
blaze of the sunshine, on a mid-winter 
day. When I took the thermometer 
away from the window and hung it in 
its old place, it took a long time to 
drop to its former level. 

Who can doubt that there are sim¬ 
ilar surprises for those who will place 
themselves in the full glow and glory 
of God’s love ? Who can question that 
we should be astonished at the warmth 
of our own hearts if we should put 
them into the full radiance of Christ’s 
spirit? There may be winter’s cold 
outside. There may be only the aver¬ 
age temperature within the home or in 
the church. But you may take your 
life out of the common light of day 
and place it where the glory of God’s 
love shines full upon it. You may 
put your heart where, by the power of 



NEW YEAR ALLEGORY 


59 


Christ’s spirit, it may rise to surpris¬ 
ing levels of joy and hope and love. 

Will you try in this new year this 
experiment with the sunshine?— H. G. 
H. 

208. Finis. 

I held the Book of the Year in my hands, 
All ready to clasp the cover: 

But I was loth to put it aside. 

And sorry to lose my lover; 

For, oh, the Year and I had been friends! 

Such blessings he had brought me; 

Such blossomy ways 1 had walked with 
him; 

Wise lessons he had taught me. 

New friends at his call had come to me; 

Old friends had grown the dearer; 
Rare hopes had ripened to perfectness, 
And Faith’s light shone the clearer. 
Here in the Book I had written all— 

I was grieved to lock the cover, 

For never again could I hope to find 
So true and tender a lover! 

—Emma A. Leute. 

209. New Year Inspiration. 

Two young men come into a church 
together, and they hear a great 
preacher, a Phillips Brooks or a Henry 
iWard Beecher, and one says, “There 
is no use in my trying to go into the 
ministry, I never could preach like 
that”; and the other says, “I am 
determined I will go into the ministry, 
for what an ideal is that to work to¬ 
ward”! Two men go into a portrait 
gallery. One man looks at the pic¬ 
tures and says, “There is no use; try 
ever so hard, I cannot paint such 
pictures.” The other man says, “That 
is art; I am going to try to be an 
artist; though I shall not succeed in 
accomplishing that, there is some¬ 
thing worth working for.” Whether 
the ideal is an inspiration or a dis¬ 
couragement depends upon the hope 
that is mixed with the ideal. Paul’s 
ideal was Christ, and Paul’s hope was 
Christ .—Lyman Abbott, D.D. 

210. “More Love to Thee.” 

God will not love you any more this 
year than the past year; he cannot. 
But the vast difference that this year 
may hold over the last is that we 


may come to love God more and un¬ 
derstand better his great love for us. 

211. New Year Resolves. 

“I will make it a year of faith and prayer, 
A year of high endeavor; 

I will crowd it with deeds both brave and 
fair, 

I will act the hero ever. 

I will travel God’s path at God’s own 
rate; 

I will welcome both gain and loss; 

Nor will I rebel when heaven’s gate 
Rooks tragically like a cross.” 

212. New Year Allegory. 

As I looked through the windows 
of the Abode of Thought, behold, all 
the world was a-building. Men of 
hoary heads and dimming eyes, men 
of sturdy form and frame, men of 
puny strength and weakly, each gath¬ 
ered to himself bricks, and builded. 
So also, did the women, toiling un¬ 
ceasingly, resting not day nor night. 
The children in like manner, observ¬ 
ing their elders, did gather bricks, 
and build. So that around me there 
grew apace strange and wondrous 
forms. For each builder builded to 
himself, even as it seemed to him 
good. 

And I saw how that many cast their 
bricks confusedly about them, so that 
what they built had neither comeli¬ 
ness nor strength. And some, and 
they were many, did take the bricks 
and set them out in straight or shape¬ 
less lines, nor could I discover how or 
what they wrought. There were 
some, moreover, who took each brick, 
and, looking closely upon it, set it as 
in an appointed place, and their work 
grew ever in grace and beauty. At 
all this I wondered, and calling unto 
me one who also looked out, I asked: 
“Sir, I pray thee, instruct me as to 
this matter.” 

Then said he: “They who build do 
build up their lives, and the bricks are 
hours. And of the builders there are 
three kinds. Many cast up the bricks 
thoughtlessly, and their lives are use¬ 
less and unbeautiful. And many, un- 



'6o 


THE VALUE OF TIME 


derstanding not that each hour hath 
its appointed place, for there are no 
two exactly alike, follow the rules of 
a master called Morality. And their 
buildings are low and straggling, 
lacking grace and vigor. And they 
who examine each brick as they use 
it for the message from the Master 
Builder that it bears, they are they 
who have learned the secret of their 
craft. Behold, how excellent is their 
work!”—/. H. 

213. New Year and Worship. 

The new year offers an excellent 
time for a new appreciation of the 
value of public worship in the house 
of God. Paul regarded this matter as 
of so much importance that he said: 
“Forsake not the assembling of your¬ 
selves together.” The various parts 
of public worship of God, the singing, 
the praying, the preaching, the giving, 
all are ordained of God for the growth 
of the soul. If every Christian would 
resolve to be faithful during the com¬ 
ing year in attendance on the worship 
of God at the stated hours of service 
in His house, there would be greater 
enthusiasm, greater consecration and 
greater results in all departments of 
the Church’s work. 

214. Everybody’s Birthday. 

The opening of the year is every¬ 
body’s birthday. God has let us share 
His work. God has gifts for days to 
come. We may send our thoughts 
back through the ways of memory; 
We must send them forth through 
opening paths of faith and hope. The 
past will come no more, but to-day 
is ours and to-morrow is in the hands 
of God who loves us. 

“My sleeve with tears is always wet, 

I have forgotten to forget.” 

215. A New Year’s Greeting. 

Good morning, Glad New Year! 
You are here, so am I. God is your 
master, He is also mine. You can 


not tell me what you’ll bring to me, 
therefore I’ll patiently wait. If you 
bring me limitations, I shall spell them 
love. If you place hindrances before 
me I shall make them helps. If you 
introduce me to disappointments, I 
shall remove the small “d” and put in 
its place a capital “H.” Let me re¬ 
mind you, New Year, that we are un¬ 
der the same great Master; only 
there’s this supreme difference, you 
are a child of time, and I am an heir 
to immortality, and when you are no 
more I shall be but another milestone 
nearer my inheritance. 

No! I have no resolves, except to 
be like Him; no purposes unless un¬ 
dertaken on His plan; no fears but 
He can change to faith; no antici¬ 
pations if He is not their inspiration; 
no pain but He may turn to pleasure; 
no sorrow but He can bring it out 
into song; no hope but He will usher 
it at last into heaven; therefore I 
meet you gladly, joyously, New Year, 
knowing that He joins our hands, and, 
whatever betide all will be well!— 
A. C. V. Skinner. 

216. New Year Mirror. 

New Year’s is called the dressing- 
maid of character who holds up the 
hand mirror to show up both the past 
and the future at one glance. “Facing 
forward” should be our motto; for¬ 
getting the things that are behind, 
such as disappointments, discourage¬ 
ments, sorrows and trials, for these 
are weights hampering the traveler. 
We cannot forget our sinfulness un¬ 
less forgiven, “for God requires that 
which is past.” Memory and con¬ 
science, God’s recording angels, ever 
sing out “Son, remember!” Only 
faith can exclaim, with David, “Re¬ 
member not the sins of my youth.” 

217. The Value of Time. 

“Dost thou love life? Then do not 
squander time, for that is the stuff 
life is made of.” 



DAYS MAKE YEARS 


61 


Benjamin Franklin, who said this, 
not only understood the value of time, 
but he put a price on it that made 
others appreciate its worth. 

A customer who came one day to 
Franklin’s little bookstore in Phila¬ 
delphia, not being satisfied with the 
price demanded by the clerk for the 
book he wanted, demanded to see the 
proprietor. The clerk pleaded that 
Mr. Franklin was very busy in the 
pressroom, but the customer insisted, 
and Franklin, summoned from his 
work, hurried into the store. 

“What is the lowest price you will 
take for this book, sir?” asked the 
leisurely customer. 

“One dollar and a quarter,” was the 
prompt reply. 

“What ? Why, your clerk asked me 
only a dollar just now.” 

“True,” said Franklin,* “and I could 
have better afforded to have taken a 
dollar than to leave my work.” 

The customer thought him joking. 

“Come, now,:” he said, laughing, 
“your lowest price for this book?” 

“One dollar and a half.” 

“Why, man, you just said a dollar 
and a quarter.” 

“Yes, and I could better have taken 
that than a dollar and a half now.” 

The purchaser paid the higher price. 
At that, he had learned cheaply from 
the greatest philosopher of his day 
not only that he who squanders his 
own time is foolish, but that he who 
wastes the time of others is a thief. 

218. “To Be Continued.” 

“We spend our years as a tale that 
is told.” Story telling fills a large 
space in Eastern life where imagina¬ 
tion is vivid, books are few, and life 
instinctively assumes dramatic forms. 
Groups of persons quickly gather 
around the story teller who tells some 
tale illustrative of life. Our human 
life has ever been compared to such a 
tale. It unfolds around a plan or plot 
in which various skeins are woven 


into one web of life, culminating in its 
climax or tragedy. We should en¬ 
deavor to build our lives around a 
principle that will gather all days and 
events into one plan that will grow 
in power and rise to its ideal. Some 
people’s lives are a series of mis¬ 
cellaneous and unrelated incidents and 
not a continuous plan; they are merely 
telling disconnected anecdotes and not 
a story. No story ever really ends, 
but only leads up to a situation that 
runs on into another story. Some¬ 
times at the end of the chapter we 
read, “To be continued.” The applica¬ 
tion is plain. Our life-story is never 
really completed in this world and at 
its end we are plainly notified that it 
will be continued. The life here runs 
on into the life beyond, and there life’s 
tale will unfold upon a grander stage 
and come to its true culmination. 

219. A Happy New Year. 

God give us all a happy New Year; 
a year of love and duty and devotion; 
a year of the sensible indwelling of 
the Spirit; a year of growth and 
faithful service; a year with Christ! 

The old year is behind us. To look 
over our shoulders is to .grow sad, 
but blessed be God, we can forget. 
One of God’s chiefest gifts is the 
oblivion of sin. He will remember 
our sins no more against us. Nor 
need we remember them. The Japan¬ 
ese have a proverb: 

But here is our word of encourage¬ 
ment : “Forgetting those things which 
are behind, and reaching forth unto 
those things which are before, I press 
toward the mark for the prize of the 
high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” 

220. Days Make Years. 

Miss Havergal has put into smoothly 
flowing lines, crowded with meaning, 
“the secret of a happy day.” What 
does she say? “Just to let,” “just to 
know,” “just to follow,” “just to 
trust,” “just to ask,” “just to take,” 



62 


PUT LOVELY PICTURES ON YOUR PAGE 


“just to leave.” These are mighty 
monosyllables. They make the way 
very simple. And so it really is, in 
theory. The practice is another thing. 
In practice it is important not to at¬ 
tempt either too much or too little. 
One attempts too much, and is de¬ 
cidedly off the track, who permits his 
thought to range at random over a 
whole twelve-month and talks vaguely 
about a happy year. One day is 
enough to tackle at a time.— Rev. 
James Mudge, D.D. 

221. Launch Forth. 

One thing is sure: we shall not 
accomplish anything this year if we 
expect to accomplish nothing. If a 
man walks along a road, he sees a 
thousand things he didn’t expect to 
see when he started out, but he sees 
them because he started out. Who¬ 
ever launches forth on God’s promises 
may not get where he thought he 
would, but he will get somewhere. 

222. The New Volume. 

Each year as it ends is like a volume 
m the history of our lives. When 
the year ends, it is as though the vol¬ 
ume had been printed, bound and sent 
abroad on its mission. If errors be 
found in it, as they will, they can be 
corrected by noting them in subse¬ 
quent volumes. So in our lives we 
may correct errors of the past by 
carefully noting them in the year that 
lies before us. If the new volume is 
to be freer from errors than the old, 
we shall need the gracious help of 
God and His sustaining power. Do 
not dare to enter the New Year with¬ 
out His presence as your guide. 

223. New Year Reminder. 

Ella Wheeler Wilcox has a morn¬ 
ing prayer which gives voice to an 
earnest desire to do something which 
shall make life worth living both for 
ourselves and others. It may bring 


us a timely reminder for the New 
Year. Thus she writes: 

“Det me do something that shall take 
A little sadness from the world’s vast 
store, 

And may I be so favored as to make 
Of joy’s too scanty sum a little more. 
Det me not hurt, by any selfish deed 

Or thoughtless word, the heart of foe or 
friend. 

Nor would I pass, unseeing, worthy need, 
Or sin by silence when I should defend. 
However meager be my worldly wealth, 

Bet me give something that shall aid my 
kind— 

A word of courage, or a thought of health, 
Dropped as I pass for troubled hearts to 
find. 

Bet me to-night look across the span 
’Twixt dawn and dark, and to my con¬ 
science say, 

Because of some good act to beast or man, 
‘The world is better that I lived to-day.’ ” 

224. The Old and New Year. 

The days die; the months die; the 
years die. Yes, the years die; the 
old year gives place to the new. The 
old year has told its tale; has brought 
its joys and sorrows; and now, per¬ 
haps, while eager voices pray it to 
take away its footprints it dies. It 
is gone, gone, the bells toll its death! 
Why should it not be the death of sin 
and sorrows? All is for the best. 
But for the death of the old year, 
there could be no new beginnings, no 
year. No new joys, no casting off of 
the old sins. So, why regret the past! 

Hail the new year, greet it joyfully. 
Let the bells chime cheerfully, let the 
heart be glad. And ere the new year 
shall have ripened into maturity make 
thy soul the purer for it!— F. A. Kil¬ 
patrick. 

225. Put Lovely Pictures on Your 

Page. 

A friend of mine, a teacher of little 
children, had each child take on the 
New Year’s morning a book of three 
hundred and sixty-five blank, white 
pages. Each page represented a day 
and on each one as its turn comes the 
child is to put some design, draw some 
simple picture, trying to have some- 
year closes. Thus the years come to 



ONLY ONE CANDLE 


63 


us, each one a volume of three hundred 
and sixty-five white pages. We are 
artists and our work is to put some 
lovely pictures on each page which 
shall not shame us when the books are 
opened at the Last Day. To do this 
we need only to live well the days as 
they come one by one to us. 

“Why do we heap huge mounds of years 
Before us and behind. 

And scorn the little days that pass, 

Like angels on the wind?” 

One day seems so small that we 
think it cannot matter much whether 
we make it beautiful or not. 

“And so it turns from us, and goes 
Away in sad disdain; 

Though we would give our lives for it. 

It never comes again.” 

— R. Miller, D.D. 

226. The Ideal Points Ahead. 

The attitude of the Christian to¬ 
ward every new year should be that 
of Paul, who said: “Not as though I 
had already attained.... but I follow 
after.” Dr. J. R. Miller tells the 
story of Chase, the famous American 
artist, who, when asked by a visitor 
to his studio, “Which picture do you 
consider your masterpiece?” pointed 
for answer to a blank canvas hanging 
in a frame in a conspicuous place on 
the wall. “That,” said he, “is my best 
work. I have painted on it thousands 
of times, and I know that I am getting 
on with my art because each year I 
paint a better picture there. Not that 
I shall ever actually touch a brush to 
that canvas; it is for the pictures that 
I paint in my mind, for the ideals to¬ 
ward which my actual works are di¬ 
rected. I am sorry I cannot show you 
that picture quite as I see it; I am 
always trying, but it keeps ahead of me 
the more I advance, and must remain 
something that no one can see but 
myself.” So in life the ideal is ever 
in advance of our achievement and 
like a guardian angel, points with un¬ 
wearying finger to the perfection that 
exists only in God. 


227. On the Starting Line. 

A Christian worker’s life had been 
filled with privilege, but he had yielded 
to sin repeatedly, until one day he 
failed so utterly that he said to a 
close friend that there was nothing 
ahead for him now. “No more than 
there is for any man,” was the an¬ 
swer, “who is just on the starting 
line.” We can get on to the starting 
line whenever we will. A thief who 
had been sentenced to death and who 
was paying his penalty in full stepped 
across this starting line of a new and 
finally victorious life in Christ, as he 
and Christ talked it over together that 
day on Calvary. Jerry McAuley, after 
turning to Christ and then failing Him, 
and then repeating this over and over 
again, finally stepped across the start¬ 
ing line for the last time, and thence¬ 
forth Christ led him in triumph. If 
our defeat yesterday or to-day was so 
crushing that it looks final, let us re¬ 
member that there is still as much 
hope ahead for us as there is in Christ 
Jesus, our undef eatable omnipotent 
Saviour .—Sunday School Times. 

228. Only One Candle. 

“I have but one candle,” said a young 
girl who was busy sewing in an attic 
room, to a friend who called. “I 
have but one candle, and this work 
must be done before it burns out. So 
you will please excuse me for working 
while you sit.” And the frail fingers 
deftly plied the needle. 

You have but one candle, and you 
have a work to do before it burns 
out. You need to be diligent and ear¬ 
nest, lest the candle burn out before the 
work is done. That candle is your life. 
That work is the work which God 
Himself has given you.— Onward. 

229. New Year Motto. 

“They have a custom in certain 
parts of Africa,” says a missionary, 
“of asking every chief for his losako 
or life motto. I met one day an old 



6 4 


NEW BRAKES AND A NEW YEAR 


thing beautiful on every page when the 
chief who asked for my losako. I 
repeated in the African language, 
‘Love the Lord with all thy heart,’ 
then asked for his losako. The old 
chief slowly and reverently repeated, 
'When you pass through the jungle 
be very careful to break a twig, that 
the next man can find his way.’ ” 

230. The Way to a Happy New 

Year. 

An old reliable rule for making a 
happy new year is to find some good 
work to do for others and do it with 
all the heart. 

In Rochester, N. Y., for many years 
a children’s hospital was conducted 
in a rather small way. There were 
no funds with which to enlarge it. 
One year the city’s “Ad Club” was in¬ 
vited to the hospital for luncheon. 
The men were taken through the 
wards and shown the tots, sick and 
pale, in their tiny cots. The visitors 
were told that without increased funds 
the work for the babies must be cur¬ 
tailed. The men were moved. They 
started a publicity campaign. They 
opened a babies’ bank in the city. They 
shouted so loudly that all the city soon 
knew of the needs of the work. And 
they raised $100,000 for the hospital. 
They took hold with their hearts. 

There are needy to be helped, sick 
persons to be visited, children’s hos¬ 
pitals to which we can send gifts, old 
people’s homes to which we can bring 
cheer. The happy Christian is the 
busy Christian. The busy worker is 
the successful worker. This is the 
way to a “happy New Year.”— Chris¬ 
tian Endeavor World. 

231. We All Like New Things. 

We all like new things. Here is a 
brand new year for us. Nothing is 
newer than time. We get it fresh 
every morning. Let us keep it as fine 
and pure as it comes from the ancient 
of Days. 


232. New Brakes and a New Year. 

A new automobile is a source of 
much satisfaction to its owner. Swift 
and powerful, it is something to be 
shown and admired by neighbors and 
friends. The agent who sells it sets 
forth the different points that make it 
a fine car—the first-rate magnets and 
carbureter, the planetary transmission, 
the starter, the number of cylinders, 
etc. Every buyer of a car can name 
the points that induced him to choose 
it in preference to other cars. But 
there is one thing all cars must have, 
or the finest would be worse than use¬ 
less. That one indispensable, seldom 
talked about by either agent or buyer, 
is the brake. It is taken for granted, 
and so not discussed. 

The swifter the car, the more in¬ 
dispensable a brake that will stop it 
promptly, and with as little jar as 
possible. A car that can climb the 
steepest hill on high gear is only a 
death-trap unless it has brakes that 
can hold it on a down-hill course. 

Anyone can understand that. Every¬ 
one sees it.. But suppose the same 
thing is said about a young man as 
about the car he drives. Suppose that 
the point is made that the one in¬ 
dispensable thing in character is self- 
control. Many doubt that. They feel 
that education, influence, energy, a keen 
mind, forceful work, are the points to 
be looked to in a successful career. 

A car whose brakes do not always 
work is a car no sane man wants. In 
making man higher than the brutes, 
God gave him conscience and will, the 
two mighty brakes that hold life from 
ruin. 

The value of a man’s life and his 
chance of reaching the goal depend up¬ 
on whether the brakes are in order 
when they are needed. If they are not 
in working trim when the critical mo¬ 
ment comes the end is not success, but 
the scrap-heap .—Herald and Presby¬ 
ter. 




A NEW YEAR AND A NEW NAME 


65 


233. A New Year and a New Name. 

All Americans should know about 
the exceedingly fascinating work that 
the famous Sioux Indian, Dr. Charles 
A. Eastman, who married the poet, 
Elaine Goodale, has done for his broth¬ 
ers of the Sioux Nation. I have heard 
him describe in his quaint way the 
many perplexities that arise from the 
long individual names of the Indians, 
that do not at all indicate family re¬ 
lationships, and are almost impossible 
for most folks to remember. In pro¬ 
portion as the Indians become civilized, 
and own and sell property, transferring 
titles, this defect in their system or 
no-system of nomenclature becomes a 
serious matter. Therefore an impor¬ 
tant step in the civilization of the In¬ 
dian is his adoption of the civilized 
name. Dr. Eastman’s fine face glows 
with enthusiasm as he unfolds the far- 
reaching results of his work. 

For he was commissioned by the 
Government to rename all the Sioux 
Indians,—a tremendous and a delicate 
task that no one else could accomplish 
half so well. Dr. Eastman is no 
iconoclast. He has a love for the 
beautiful Indian names, and has re¬ 
tained them so far as he can. But 
what is one to do with an Indian who 
is called Tatcyohnakewastewin, which 
signifies She-Who-Has-a-Beautiful- 
House? Dr. Eastman renamed her 
Good-house. No particularly beautiful 
sentiment attaches to Bob-tailed Co¬ 
yote, and everyone is willing to have 
it changed to Mr. Robert T. Wolf. 
But such a name as Matoska (White 
Bear), is retained, as it is pleasing and 
manageable. In this way, with sym¬ 
pathy, poetic insight, and ready wit, 
Dr. Eastman has persuaded the Sioux 
to adopt improved names. 

Is not the whole operation a beau¬ 
tiful illustration of the new name 
which each of us is to receive in 
heaven, fresh from the mind of our 
Father? It will signify the finail 
5 


abandonment of our old sinful nature. 
It will mean our adoption into the 
kingdom of heaven. It will retain all 
the best of the old, and it will seal us 
to the glorious and permanent new.— 
A. R. Wells. 

234. The Next the Best. 

When Thornwaldsen was asked 
‘Which is your greatest statue?” he 
replied, “The next one.” “If I cease 
to become better,” Cromwell is said 
to have written in his Bible, “I shall 
cease to be good.” Even the best may 
be bettered. Indeed, it must be bet¬ 
tered if it is not to grow worse. We 
are meant to advance always upon our 
past. All that we gain each year is 
meant to be, not a level on which we 
will stop, but a place from which we 
will ascend. This means that we must 
plan and purpose to go on to better 
things—that good resolutions are nec¬ 
essary to moral and spiritual advance¬ 
ment. For this reason, if for no other,, 
good resolutions are a duty.— H. 

235. How to Have a Happy New 

Year. 

It was at a girls* summer school, 
years ago, when one of the girls rose 
and said to Alice Freeman Palmer, 
who had been talking to them: 

“Mrs. Palmer, you are always so 
cheerful and happy; will you tell us, 
please, how can we be happy?” 

“I will, dear,” said this saint of her 
sex. “I will give you three very 
simple rules: 

“The first is this: Commit some¬ 
thing to memory every day, something 
good. It needn’t be much. Three or 
four words will do—just a pretty bit 
of a poem or a Bible verse. 

“The second rule is this: Look for 
something pretty every day; and don’t 
skip a day, or it won’t work. 

“My third rule is this—now, mind, 
don’t skip a day: Do something for 
somebody every day! That is all there 
is to it, dear. You’d better try it.” 



<56 


NEW YEAR STRATEGY 


These three rules are just as good 
as when they were spoken; they will 
work always and everywhere, in the 
country as well as in the city; for 
women as well as for girls. They will 
make a farm-house warm in the chill 
winter and a tenement cool in the 
blazing summer. They will help to 
make us masters of our lives. They 
are so plain that everybody can under¬ 
stand them and so practical that every¬ 
body can keep them. No matter how 
lowering and how gray the sky these 
rules infallibly will make the sun shine 
through. 

236. Put in. Your Time Improving. 

Two men at the Boston Public Li¬ 
brary were waiting for the books they 
had ordered. One of them fidgeted 
impatiently snapped his watch-case, and 
gnawed his mustache. The other 
turned to the reference books and used 
his time in gaining some useful in¬ 
formation. You may not see your 
chance this New Year to get just the 
kind of new start you would like; but 
while you are waiting for it, put in 
your time improving yourself as best 
you can. 

237. Through the Year. 

Foolhardy indeed is the captain who 
tries to navigate a foreign roadstead 
without a native pilot. Equally fool¬ 
hardy is he who seeks to thread the 
intricate passages of life in his own 
strength and wisdom. God has prom¬ 
ised to be an eye to us. He has 
promised to guide us through every 
day and hour, through every dark and 
dangerous lane of human life. He 
has promised, moreover, if we will 
follow, not only to keep us from 
bodily harm but to satisfy our souls. 

Clear across the continent we have 
a road marked with red, white, and 
bule signs, and called the “Lincoln 
Highway.” It is easy to follow, for 
we have but to watch for the signs. 
The spiritual road of life is just as 


clearly marked. In every page of 
God’s Word we find its guide-posts. 
Verse after verse says, This Is the 
Way of Life. But the red, white, and 
blue signs of the great highway are of 
little use to one sightless or color¬ 
blind. And some are strangely blind 
in spiritual things. For such, the key 
to the guide-book is sincere prayer to 
the Father for grace to understand 
His Word. Thus prayer and the 
open Book together make certain steps 
through the year. 

238. Numbering Our Days. 

So easy is it for us all to forget 
how quickly the years pass, that we 
cannot pray too earnestly, “So teach 
us to number our days that we may 
apply our hearts unto wisdom.” 

“I suppose you have your itinerary 
all mapped out, even to a day,” I said 
to a friend about making a long tour 
abroad. 

“No,” he replied, “that would spoil 
it all for me. I do not tie myself down 
as to either places or times. I shall 
go and stay, and go and stay again as 
the mood takes me.” 

That, though, is something most 
tourists cannot do. There is a limit to 
the number of days they will have at 
their command. The sailing-dates are 
fixed for both going and coming. It 
is not from choice but from necessity 
that, having cut it short, what they will 
take in and what leave out, they “ap¬ 
ply their hearts to the wisdom” of 
making the most they can of their 
sight-seeing days.— Rev. Addison Bal¬ 
lard, D.D. 

239. New Year Strategy. 

There is a secret process for happi¬ 
ness. Try it during this New Year. 
Here it is. “Smile up.” At least that 
is the way the boys in a boy’s club 
I know express it. “Smile up.” 

“Smile up” is about the best, most 
durable, wearable and stylish New 
Year’s resolution to make. Good na- 



VISITING GREAT YESTERDAYS 


67 


ture is a fine thing to have on hand 
and never becomes vulgarly common. 

After a time, when you become skill¬ 
ful in smiling, you can grin away a 
toothache—almost. At least you can 
bear it and not issue momentary bul¬ 
letins to the family. 

When Joan of Arc was asked the 
secret of the invincibility of her white 
banner, she said, “I send my banner 
forward against the enemy, and then 
I follow it myself.” 

Let us send the white banner of our 
new resolutions forward into the New 
Year, as a challenge to the foes that 
have menaced and discomfited us 
during the past year, and then let us 
steadily and persistently follow them 
ourselves.— H. 

240. Visiting Great Yesterdays: A 
New Year Privilege. 

If we drink the valor of our an¬ 
cestors we shall have courage to stand 
by the Truth even when the crowd has 
gone another way. We can go to the 
past and talk with Mr. Worldly-Wise- 
man, or we can have fellowship with 
Mr. Valiant - for - the - Truth. Mr. 
Worldly-Wiseman is always in favor 
of safe measures, and he would go 
with the majority in the hope of some¬ 
thing turning up, “you never know 
what!” His offered “wisdom” is al¬ 
ways small prudence and compromise. 
But we need the courage of our great 
ancestors, courage to march with 
Truth in little companies, courage to 
“rejoice with the truth,” in the ab¬ 
solute assurance that, in spite of all 
appearances, she marches to inevitable 
triumph. It is the courage which be¬ 
lieves that Truth is God’s leaven of the 
kingdom and therefore indestructible. 

And we must imbibe the courage that 
sees the Captain, and is comparatively 
careless about everything else. Where 
is the Lord Jesus Christ in this busi¬ 
ness? There! Then forward into 
hardships, forward into light!— Rev. 
John Henry Jowett, D.D. 


241. The Passing of Time. 

“The king is dead; long live the 
king.” In uncrowned America this 
announcement is unknown; but the 
fact expressed is a constant experience. 
Endings are but beginnings. One stage 
is past, another stage immediately 
starts. There are no interregnums. 
Time flows ceaselessly on. The year 
comes silently to its close, and with¬ 
out shock or outward change insen¬ 
sibly glides into a new year. And so 
the years pass by. And so too it is 
with life. The end comes not to life, 
but to the visibility of it. We watch 
the railway train as it puffs into the 
station and out again. Smaller and 
smaller does it appear to our vision 
across the expanse of prairie and at 
length it vanishes. Has the train come 
to an end? By no means. It still 
shoots rapidly forward though we 
cannot see it. Such is life. A little 
while it sports and suffers in the sphere 
of earth, and then it passes out of 
visibility into invisibility, speeding on 
to other realms. This is not the end. 
What seems the end is but a new stage 
in progress .—Dubuque Evangelist. 

242. New Year New Time. 

There is nothing so new as time! 
Every fresh day is absolutely unique. 
It comes unexampled, unspoiled, orig¬ 
inal, out of the treasure-house of 
Time. He brings from that store¬ 
room, not “things new and old,” like 
the householder of the Bible, but only 
things brand-new. 

No two days begin alike. The sun 
never rises twice in the same way. 
There are always variations in the 
weather. You never feel the same 
two days in succession. The greetings 
of friends are different. Your tasks, 
however monotonous, always come up¬ 
on you from a slightly different angle. 
These are incessant little changes all 
through the most humdrum series of 
days. 





68 


THE CONVENIENT MILESTONE 


Homer, in his great poems, lingers 
lovingly over a laundry scene, and ex¬ 
ults in “garments for a change.” He 
must have appreciated the kindness 
done men and women by Father Time 
in washing out our lives for us every 
night, washing and ironing them, and 
laying them by our bedsides clean and 
white and shining for us to array our¬ 
selves exultantly every morning. 

There are souls so mean and de¬ 
graded that in spite of this gracious 
attention they hunt around in the 
closet, fish out some soiled linen, and 
deliberately put it on, casting only a 
sour glance at the fresh clothes wait¬ 
ing for them by the bedside. Heaven 
forbid that such a soul be mine on 
any day of the year.— A. R, Wells. 

243. 'He Holds the Key. 

Christ alone knows the coming year. 
He holds the key. There are many 
things He could tell us about it, but 
we cannot bear them now. He will 
lead us into it step by step. That is 
better than seeing the distant scene. 

“I know not what the future hath 
Of marvel or surprise; 

Assured alone that life and death 
His mercy underlies.” 

244. The Flood of Y ears. 

Out on the water in a sailing yacht 
we were caught in a storm. As the 
small vessel was tossed up and down 
it was a real source of comfort to look 
away from the unstable boat to the 
tranquil shore. We doubt if there is 
any one once coming to realize the 
meaning of such an expression as this, 
“The Lord sitteth upon the flood,” 
who will not find a new sense of rest 
and security and hope. 

A flood suggests also the resistless 
flow of the years, full of commotion 
and possibly of distress. 

“Sitteth upon the flood.” This is 
the position of calm assurance, of con¬ 
scious strength. He holds the tide of 
years in the hollow of His hand and 


sets a bound to the floods. How well 
we can afford to trust Him!— W. S. 
Stranahcm. 

245. Shut Up the Ledger, Time. 

It is one of life’s keenest regrets 
that we cannot now do the kindness 
which we know we ought to have 
done, but did not do. The “might-have- 
beens” of life are ghosts that haunt 
us to the end of our days. The New 
Year should be a time for straight¬ 
ening out of all the crooked things, 
settling all the old scores, removing all 
the old grudges, making reparation for 
all injuries done, apologizing for all 
the unkind speeches, smoothing out the 
rough places. Begin the New Year 
as far as you can with a clean slate, 
and be careful what you write on it 
in the days that follow. 

“Close up the Ledger, Time! 

Hark, the knell of the year gone by l 

Have I run out my golden sand? 

Where shall I be when the next shall die? 

Where shall the soul within me stand? 

Naught beyond but in guilt and crime? 

Listen! I hear the New Year’s bell: 

Shut up the Ledger, Time.” 

—The Christian Observer. 

246. New Year Power. 

In planning our lives for the new 
year that lies before us we should re¬ 
member that “the joy of the Lord is 
our strength.” Dr. J. H. Jowett one 
year sent to the members of his con¬ 
gregation the following “Word of 
Remembrance,” as his message for 
the new year. It is a message that 
deserves to be passed on to the mem¬ 
bers of all churches everywhere: “If 
the members of our church could be 
united during the coming year in the 
noble covenant of doing the right and 
engaging in ministries of mercy, and 
at the same time enjoying the intimacy 
of the Lord, what a tremendous power 
we should be in this community.” 

247. The Convenient Milestone. 

Every New Year’s Day is a con¬ 
venient milestone. To be sure, we may 
begin a new year on any day or any 



START WITH GOD 


69 


minute. Now is always the accep¬ 
table time for good resolutions. But 
with the beginning of the calendar 
year we are likely to be especially 
sensible of the passing of time, and 
especially desirous of bettering our 
lives. 

Let us not utter the common and 
very foolish jest that makes fun of 
good resolutions. The road to hell, 
says the proverb, is paved with them, 
but so also is the road to heaven. It 
is a bad thing to break one’s good res¬ 
olutions, but it is a grand thing to 
keep them; and if they are not made, 
they will not be kept.— Rev. A. R. 
Wells. 

248. Start With God. 

The first four words of the Bible 
are extremely significent, “In the be¬ 
ginning God.” The verse declares that 
God created heaven and earth in the 
beginning of the present order of 
things, back of which statement is the 
implied fact of the preexistence of the 
Almighty. We are not interested at 
this time in the creation directly, but 
more particularly in the manner in 
which these words may be applied to 
our entrance into the new year. 

If we begin right, and continue in the 
way we have started, we may look 
into the future feeling confident that 
all things work together for our good. 
Start with God.— Rev. S. B. Rupp. 

249. Another Chance. 

The New Year means another chance. 
Whether or not we have failed in the 
past, there is an opportunity to do 
better than ever before. 

Traveling in a new country, it is 
well to have a map or guide book, or, 
better still, the company and advice of 
one who is familiar with the route. 
In entering the New Year we may 
have both the map, which is God’s 
Word, and the companionship of Jesus, 
our Saviour and King. With confi¬ 
dence in Him we need neither sorrow 


unduly over the past, nor suffer fear 
for that which lies before us. As 
some one has said: “Obedience is our 
duty for to-day, faith for to-morrow 
—and our Guide will supply the know¬ 
ledge that we lack .”—Herald and Pres¬ 
byter. 

250. Make a Friend. 

Make a friend of the New Year by 
making a new friend in the New Year. 
Look about for some one to whom as 
the New Year begins you will be for 
Christ’s sake the friend that Christ 
Himself would be and would have you 
be. We may be sure that there are 
many waiting for such a new friend¬ 
ship. 

251. Start Higher. 

“Moment by moment I’ve kept in His love. 
Moment by moment I’ve life from above.” 

No doubt an added momentum in 
the Christian course may be obtained 
by the effort to secure for ourself a 
firmer purpose of fidelity and devotion 
to God at the beginning of a new year 
but this should be regarded as an up¬ 
lift to a higher plane on which to 
start out for the coming year, rather 
than as laying in a supply of spiritual 
stores sufficient to last throughout the 
year .—James Demerest, D.D. 

252. A Year of Level Best. 

Henry Ward Beecher said that his 
father, Lyman Beecher, advised him at 
one time not to run races with himself, 
meaning by this the effort to outstrip 
himself. “So,” he said, “I don’t try 
to do more this year than I did last 
year, or to preach a better sermon 
this Sabbath than I did a week ago. 
It is enough for me to do my level 
best each time, however it compares 
with some previous effort.” It is not 
essential how one puts it, if he only 
makes an absolutely honest effort to 
improve each day and each year and 
to render his best and truest service to 
Christ as the days and years pass by. 




70 


THE NEW YEAR PRESENCE 


253. The New Year Presence. 

When Wesley lay dying he gathered 
himself together and cried, “The best 
of all is that God is with us.” That 
was the lesson of his long life. He 
realized that God was with him. And 
that is perhaps the simplest lesson of 
the book of Psalms. It teaches us that 
God is with us. It shows us that the 
door is open to His house, and we can 
approach Him as children come to a 
father and tell Him all our story. God 
is with us. There is never a day 
when He forgets us, even if we forget 
Him. He is with us to win us from 
sin and selfishness. He is with us to 
make us strong in trial and temptation. 
Let us try to be with Him, on His 
side, fighting for right and for good 
throughout the whole of this New 
Year. 

254. Resolve on New Year Help. 

One English boy, many years ago, 
when he was struggling hard to get an 
education, found a man who loaned 
him enough money to go through col¬ 
lege. The boy grew to manhood and 
became very rich, but he never forgot 
his early struggle, and he determined 
that he would build an institution in 
which it would be possible for boys to 
gain an education without the harsh 
struggle he himself had to pass 
through. Hundreds of boys have been 
educated in this institution, and many 
of them have helped other boys to 
get an education. This man built the 
institution as a monument to God’s 
help. It is a useful monument, far 
more useful than a stone. If God has 
helped us, he means us to tell it to 
the world and to pass on that help to 
some one that needs it. We cannot 
build institutions, of course, but we 
can thank God for what He has done 
for us, and we can show others how 
they, too, may get help from Him.— 
Rev. R. P. Anderson. 


255. Our Indebtedness. 

About two centuries ago, a great 
sun-dial was reared in All Souls’ Col¬ 
lege, Oxford, England, the largest and 
noblest dial, it is said, in the whole 
kingdom. Over the long pointer were 
written, in letters of gold the Latin 
words referring to the hours “Pereunt 
et imputantur.” Literally the meaning 
is “They perish and are set down to 
our account;” or as they have been 
rendered in terse phrase, “They are 
wasted, and are added to our debt.” 

It is said that these words on the 
dial have exerted a wonderful influ¬ 
ence on the boyhood of many of the 
distinguished men who have received 
their training at Oxford, stimulating 
them to the most conscientious use of 
the golden hours as they passed, and 
bearing fruit in long lives of faithful¬ 
ness and earnestness .—Sunday School 
Times. 

256. Happy New Year. 

The life-giving principle of air is 
oxygen. Leave it out of the air and 
we could not breathe it. Now the 
oxygen of a happy new year is un¬ 
selfishness. 

257. “How Old Art Thou?” 

On the tomb of Dwight L. Moody, 
at Northfield, is graven the sentiment: 
“He that doeth the will of God abid- 
eth forever.” The passing of the 
years has ever served to remind us of 
the rapid flight of time and the amaz¬ 
ing brevity of our life on earth. But 
our faith reminds us that lives lived 
for God and humanity defy the grave. 

258. God Our New Year Guide. 

A mystic said to his friend as they 
journeyed together, “I know God much 
better than I know you.” True Chris¬ 
tian mysticism is the cultivation of the 
consciousness of friendship with God. 
We need a guide, and if our guide be 
a friend, we are all the safer. Some 
people are satisfied with divine guid- 



NEW YEAR TALK TO CHILDREN 


7i 


ance at intervals—in crises of their 
lives—but since He is the eternal God, 
we need never be without His guid¬ 
ance. He never grows weary, though 
we may. Age does not enfeeble Him 
as it enfeebles us. Death does not 
dismay. Him as the thought of it often 
dismays us. He sees through it and 
knows that death is but an incident in 
life. So He is our Guide unto death 
will be our Guide through death. We 
shall pass through death as little 
changed as a ray of light is changed 
by passing through a transparent va¬ 
por. On the other side of the vapor 
called death we shall have the same 
Guide that we had on this side of it. 
“Before us, as behind, is God, and all 
is well.”— Rev. Charles C. Albertson, 
D.D. 

259. A New Year Thought. 

In France there is a wayside cross 
that carries this inscription: “He is 
dead for us; let us live for Him.” 

260. This Year Also. 

One is only a fragmentary sort of 
man who can contemplate entering up¬ 
on a new year without feeling the 
throbbings of a high ambition to do 
and to be the best that is possible. 
The past year’s record being closed 
one will wish to excel it, if he has 
in him any sort of proper life. If 
one can not be better and greater than 
all other people he may at least be 
permitted the laudable emulation of 
seeking to excel what he himself has 
accomplished. Thus one makes his 
advances. When he no longer feels 
prompted and stirred to do better and 
to do his best there is something the 
matter, betokening temporary or per¬ 
manent decadence.— Herald and Pres¬ 
byter. 

261. Another Chance. 

Phrasing it bluntly, that is what the 
new year means—another chance to 
make good. 


What have you done with the years 
that are gone ? Possibly you have been 
crowding them so full of those things 
for the doing of which life is, given 
you—kindly deeds done for others 
from love to Christ and men—that 
you could not get the lid down. And 
possibly you have not. 

Whether you have or not, here is 
one more chance. It looks now as if 
this year would be added to your list. 

Whatever you have done with its 
predecessors, it unrolls before you a 
clean page, and God puts the pencil in 
your hand, and you may make what 
marks on it you choose. What will 
they be? Will self, or Christ, give 
them their character? It rests with 
you to determine this.— Christian 
World. 

262. New Year Talk to Children: 

Spending Time. 

It is said that Queen Elizabeth, on 
her death-bed, said that she would 
give half her kingdom for an hour’s 
time. In youth we say, “There is 
time enough” for everything. We are 
like a boy that suddenly comes into a 
fortune and gets a bank-book for the 
first time. He thinks that he is rich 
forever, and that he never can spend 
the money. But in a few years the 
money is gone, wasted, thrown away. 
Time, like money, is not inexhaustible 
for us. It has an end, and when that 
end comes we shall discover that time 
is tremendously valuable. We must 
spend time. We cannot escape that 
necessity. We should see that we get 
value for it when it is spent. And we 
shall get value only if we spend our 
time in accordance with the will of 
God. We are young now, and the 
years seem endless. Let us not forget 
that when they are done we should be 
able to point to achievements to prove 
that we have made good use of our 
time.— Christian Endeavor World. 



72 


A NEW YEAR PARABLE 


263. New Year Lessons From Old 

Year Failures. 

Famous engine-builders in this coun¬ 
try were once asked if they had ever 
had an explosion of one of their 
engines. They replied: “No, we have 
not. We wish we could, if no one 
were hurt, for we should like to know 
where the weakest part is.” In great 
chain factories power-machines are 
specially designed to make chains fail, 
so that the makers may know how and 
why and where the chains’ weakest 
portions are. It is sometimes a dis¬ 
tinct advantage to have learned by a 
failure. 

264. Work for Eternity. 

Napoleon found an artist once paint¬ 
ing a picture, and asked him, “Who 
are you painting that for?” And he, 
drawing himself up proudly, replied, 
“I am painting if for immortality, sire.” 
“How long will your canvas last?” 
asked the emperor. “It has been skil¬ 
fully prepared; it will last at least a 
thousand years.” Napoleon shrugged 
his shoulders: “Now we see what an 
artist’s idea of immortality is.” We 
see what St. Paul’s idea of life and 
of immortality is, when we hear him 
saying, “I press on toward the goal 
unto the prize of the upward calling of 
God in Christ Jesus.” 

265. New Year Backward Look. 

In the region of the Ohio river, at 
some seasons of the year nearly every 
morning witnesses a heavy fog cover¬ 
ing all the surface of the water and 
the valley through which the river 
flows. Rowers who have occasion to 
cross the broad stream in the early 
part of the day often experience great 
difficulty in pulling a direct course to 
the other side. As men lost in a for¬ 
est walk in a circle, so is there, in this 
case, a strong tendency to row in a 
circle. For experienced rowers even 
it is not always easy to reach the op¬ 
posite shore. But by close attention 


to one little matter the oarsman with 
fair amount of experience is likely to 
reach his desired haven. By carefully 
looking backward; by keeping his eye 
steadily on the rippling wake of the 
boat, caused by the disturbance of the 
water, by holding the aim straight in 
line with the disturbed track left be¬ 
hind, the rower can make sure that he 
is progressing toward the shore for 
which he started. 

No less profitable may we find it in 
the voyage of life, or the voyage of 
the new year, to exercise the grace of 
looking backward. A sight of the 
path we have already traversed may 
suggest much in regard to the way we 
ought to take.— H. 

266. A New Year Parable. 

Dr. David Smith has given us a 
beautiful incident which he calls “a 
parable of life.” 

He writes: “A few seasons ago a 
little yacht was cruising among the 
Western Islands of Scotland, and one 
sullen evening a gale set in from the 
broad Atlantic. It came moaning 
over the long, rolling swell, and caught, 
the frail craft off a perilous lee shore. 
There was no shelter at hand; but the 
old skipper had known that treacher¬ 
ous coast from boyhood, and he said 
that there was a harbor some distance 
away, and he thought he could make it, 
And so, through the darkness, lit only 
by the gleam of phosphorescence in 
her wake, the little ship went plung¬ 
ing on her course amid the wild welter 
of wind and wave. At length she 
swung into smooth water; and they 
let go the anchor, and, turning into 
their berths, went peacefully to sleep. 

In the morning the master came 
on deck and surveyed the scene— a 
little loch, girt about by dark, purple 
mountains. It was a quiet haven; but, 
looking toward the entrance, he be¬ 
held a narrow channel, with sharp 
rocks jutting here and there, and all 
awash with boiling surf. To think of 



CHRIST’S RECIPE EOR HAPPINESS 


73 


passing that way! The least swerving 
of the tiller, and those jagged teeth 
would catch the frail timbers, and 
grind them to splinters, and every 
life would perish. He gazed awhile; 
then he shuddered, and, turning to the 
old skipper, he exclaimed, ‘Did we— 
did we pass there in the darkness ?’ ” 

We regard the call of the new 
year, and we are astonished at the 
wisdom and the goodness of God which 
have led us so patiently and success¬ 
fully through the perilous places of the 
past year. And we shall never realize 
what a debt we owe to the unseen love 
which has attended us until we get 
home to the city of God, and from its 
shining battlements survey the long 
road which we have travelled over the 
wide wilderness. God has been our 
Guide, our Pilot. 

“He leads us on 
By paths we do not know. 

Upward he leads us, though our steps are 
slow, 

Though oft we faint and falter on the way. 
Though storms and darkness oft obscure 
the day; 

Yet, when the clouds are gone. 

We know he leads us on.” 

— Rev. W. J. Hart , D.D. 

267. The Old Year. 

We can take off and throw away 
our old coats, but we still remember, 
and others still remember, that we 
wore it. And we cannot wholly get 
rid of our past sins, nor is it well that 
we should. We need to remember 
them, so that we may have sympathy 
with others who are sinning, and know 
how to help them out of their sins. 

268. Christ’s Recipe for Happiness. 

In the Beatitudes the word “blessed” 
means “happy,” so that Jesus tells us 
clearly what things go to make a man 
happy. You will notice that the in¬ 
gredients in this recipe are all mental 
conditions: humility, as contrasted 
with loud-voiced assertiveness: sor¬ 
row (for sin); meekness; a passion 
for right living; kindness; purity; a 
peaceful spirit. Cultivate these qual¬ 


ities, and, if Jesus is to be believed, you 
will be happy. There is a limitless 
possibility within you. Develop it. 
“Theirs is the kingdom.” 

This is the way to have a happy 
New Year.— H. 

269. Happiness of Service. 

God has made the heart to give. 
That is why the doing of good brings 
joy. And the joy is not always in 
proportion to the size of the deed. It 
is possible to get as much real and 
abiding happiness out of little acts of 
kindness as in giving $100,000 for a 
city library. Poverty is no bar to 
joy. There is a story of a woman 
who lived in a poor village. She 
planted a flower garden in front of her 
house. She gave the neighbors seeds, 
helped them to weed and dig, gave 
them advice, and encouraged them to 
send flowers to the county fair. She 
changed the tone of the village by her 
example and her service. Here, then, 
is a great secret: do something to 
help somebody, no matter how small 
the service may seem, and you open 
floodgates of joy for the New Year. 
— Rev. R. P. Anderson. 

270. Nut-Shell New Year Sermon. 

“Rise, let us be going!” Rise out of 
discouragement and failure and vain 
regret! Go on to courageous action, 
to quiet perseverance, to hopeful on- 
looking, to happy victory, to real 
achievement!— J. Y. Bvuart, D.D. 

271. Ahead of Time. 

The accomodation train was moving 
on schedule time toward the great 
city. Commuters were boarding the 
train at every station. As the train 
was nearing a regular stop it slowed 
down and seemed to drag itself into 
the station. We said to the con¬ 
ductor, “Is there something ahead of 
us?” “No,” said he, “we are ahead 
of time; it’s time, it’s time.” There 
is danger in being ahead of time when 



74 


THE MESSAGE DELIVERED 


you are on the railroad train. To be 
on time is better than to be ahead of 
time for a train and for nearly every¬ 
thing else. 

Nothing is more precious than time. 
To be ahead of it makes it future, 
which is not yet ours; to be behind 
time makes it past, which we can 
never recall. To he ahead of time is 
to lose your own time which might be 
better employed? To be behind time 
is to lose the time of some one else. 
The greatest loss of time of which I 
know is to sit idly by and count the 
hours as they pass. The railroad time 
table has done more to train our peo¬ 
ple to punctuality than any other moral 
influence. Lord Wellington observed 
of the Duke of Newcastle, the prime 
minister: “He loses half an hour every 
morning and runs after it all the day, 
without being able to overtake it.” 

Well ordered time is the surest mark 
of a well ordered mind, “Who mur¬ 


ders time, he crushes in the birth a 
power ethereal .”—New York Ob¬ 
server. 

272. Eyes Front. 

How fine this picture of Paul as the 
runner, bent on winning the Christian 
race! How fixed the forward look, 
how eager the forward poise! In such 
intensity lies success. So all the lead¬ 
ers have come to the fore, by spurning 
distractions and pressing to one 
chosen aim. 

Where the difference comes in eager 
lives is in the goal of vision. The 
man with the muck-rake looks down. 
The social butterfly glances from flow¬ 
er to flower. But Paul fixes his gaze 
on Christ. “Looking unto Jesus,”—a 
good word, that, for the new year, and 
all the years, for so we come to Him, 
and live in Him evermore.— Rev. M. 
Summerbell, D.D. 


III. EPIPHANY 

(Twelfth Day After Christmas). 


It seems that Epiphany was first ob¬ 
served in the Eastern or Greek Church, 
where it celebrated Christ’s manifes¬ 
tation of His Messiahship on the oc¬ 
casion of His baptism. After the 
fourth century it was observed in the 
Western, or Roman Catholic Church, 
with especial reference to God’s mani¬ 
festation of Himself in Christ to the 
whole world, and especially to the 
Gentile world. All the churches ob¬ 
serving Epiphany in America very 
appropriately use the day to magnify 
the cause of Missions, and hold up 
Christ as “the Light of the World.” 

273. The Message Delivered. 

A mere lad in the army overseas 
was rather hard to manage because 
of his failure to respond readily to 
discipline. But when the time came 


for him to do actual service, he sud¬ 
denly developed into a man. On the 
last day of the great war he had to go 
out twice in the face of the enemy fire, 
but both times came and saluted with 
these words: “Captain, your message 
was delivered.” 

We are entrusted with a message to 
the nations, and there are many places 
in the far-flung battle line where to 
deliver it is to do so in the face of the 
enemy’s fire. There will come a day 
when we will go out for the last time, 
and at the end of day report to our 
Captain, who said, “Go ye.” Shall we 
be able to say, as did the lad: “Cap¬ 
tain, your message was delivered”? 

274. Is Your Wing Broken? 

Maltbie D. Babcock said, “I tell you, 
my fellow-Christians, your love has a 



STRAIGHTEN OUT YOUR FINGERS 


75 


broken wing if it cannot fly across 
the ocean.” Christ said, “Go ye into 
all the world and preach the Gospel to 
every creature.” 

275. Straighten Out Your Fingers. 

There is an old but meaningful 
story about the small boy who got his 
hand into an expensive vase, and all 
the family tried in vain to extricate it. 
When they were on the point of break¬ 
ing the vase, the father made one more 
attempt. “Straighten out your fin¬ 
gers,” he began, when the boy inter¬ 
rupted him: “I can’t papa; if I did, I 
should drop my penny!” 

This has its application to missionary 
giving. 

276. Are You a Missionary? 

When Admiral Foote was in Siam 
he invited the royal dignitaries to a 
dinner on his vessel. As soon as the 
guests were seated at the table, he, as 
was his invariable custom, asked a 
blessing upon the food. The king in 
surprise said he thought only mission- 
aires asked blessings. “True,” re¬ 
plied the admiral quietly, “but every 
Christian is a missionary.” 

277. Missionaries are Pioneers. 

“A missionary is the pioneer of 
civilization; it is he that makes pos¬ 
sible law, order, trade and wealth.” 

“Missionaries are pioneers of edu¬ 
cation; first the Sunday-school, then 
the day school, then the college.” 

278. We Die So Fast. 

“Sudden, before my inward, open vision. 
Millions of faces crowded up to view; 
Sad eyes that said, ‘For us there is no 
provision; 

Give us your Saviour, too.’ 

“ ‘Give us/ they cry, ‘your cup of con¬ 
solation. 

Never to our outreaching hands 'tis 
passed; 

We long for the Desire of every nation, 
And, oh, we die so fast.’ ” 

—Author Unknown. 

279. “Go Ye Therefore.” 

Dr. Abbott tells of a small boy who 
asked his ten-year-old sister just as 


the sermon concluded, “Now is it all 
done?” “No,” she whispered back, 
“It’s just all said, and we must go 
and do it.” Christ gave the command 
that we should preach the Gospel in 
all the world. It is ours to go and do. 

280. What Should the Church 

Army Do? 

A soldier of the English army de¬ 
clared that they could place a procla¬ 
mation given to them in the hands of 
every soul in the world inside of 
eighteen months. The Church of 
Christ has failed to do it in eighteen 
hundred years. But the happy sign 
is that she is waking up to the con¬ 
sciousness that she can do it. 

281. Go and Fetch Them. 

At a Salvation Army Congress in 
London, General Booth told of a sym¬ 
pathetic person who said to a young 
woman, a captain in the general’s 
forces, that he admired their work, 
but disliked their drum. “Sir,” she 
said, in reply, “I don’t like your bell.” 
“What!” said he, “not like the bell 
that says ‘Come to the house of God,’ ” 
“The bell may say ‘Come!’ ” said 
she, “but the drum says ‘Go and fetch 
’em!’ ” That is the missionary order; 
“Go and fetch them.” “Go, make 
disciples of all nations.” 

282. Your Mission Offering. 

“Here’s a nickel for you, my man,” 
she said to the frayed and ragged- 
looking individual who stood upon the 
porch with extended hand. “I’m not 
giving it to you for charity’s sake, but 
merely because it pleases me.” Thankee, 
but couldn’t you make it a quarter 
and enjoy yourself thoroughly, 
ma’am?” 

283. Indian Converts. 

A party of white men were on a 
fishing and hunting expedition among 
the Hudson Bay Indians. A boat was 




76 


AN UNDELIVERED MESSAGE 


overturned and two of the party were 
drowned. As it was impossible to 
send the body to relatives, a coffin was 
made and a grave dug. When the 
Christian Indians saw that they were 
going to bury the men without even 
a prayer, they protested, asking if 
white men buried their dead like dogs. 
None of the white men could pray, so 
the Indian conducted a simple but 
impressive burial service. One of the 
white men was so touched by the in¬ 
cident that he gave his heart to God. 

284. One of them. 

The story is told of a certain man 
who did not approve of foreign mis¬ 
sions. One Sabbath, at church, when 
the collection was being taken up for 
these missions, the collector approached 
and held out the collection box. The 
man shook his head. 

“I never give to missions,” he whis¬ 
pered. 

“Then take something out of the 
bag, sir,” whispered the collector, “the 
money is for the heathen.” 

285. More Gospel? Less Rum. 

The first letter written in English by 
a native of the Congo was written to 
the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was 
this, and surely there is a lesson in it 
for Christendom: “Great and Good 
Chief of the Tribe of Christ: Greet¬ 
ing. The humblest of your servants 
kisses the hem of your garment, and 
begs you to send to his fellow-servants 
more gospel and less rum. In the 
bond of Christ. Ugalla.” 

286. They Have Souls. 

One of the denizens of “Hell’s Kitch¬ 
en,” Manhattan, remarked upon hear¬ 
ing the gospel for the first time, 
“Something ought to be done for us 
fellers”; and he was right. 

287. The Disease: The Cure. 

Gideon Ouseley, telling of his call 
to preach, would say, as Mr. Hay tells, 


“The voice said, ‘Gideon, go and preach 
the gospel!’ ” But he so felt his ig¬ 
norance and unworthiness that he 
pleaded, “Lord, I am a poor ignorant 
creature. How can I go?” Then it 
would rush into his mind, “Do you not 
know the disease?” “Oh, yes, Lord, I 
do.” “And do you not know the cure ?” 
“Oh, yes, glory be to thy namel I 
do.” “Go then and tell them these 
two things, the disease and the cure; 
never mind the rest; the rest is only 
talk .”—From Life of Gideon Ouseley, 
by W. Arthur. 

288. An Undelivered Message. 

“I sent my love to you every day,” 
said a little girl, indignantly, to a sick 
friend, who was beginning to be con¬ 
valescent, and felt hurt because no 
word of remembrance had come to 
her. “They just took it and kept it 
all their selves!” The childish way 
of looking at it sets in strong light the 
meaning of an undelivered message. 
Was it chance that just at the moment 
of hearing it, there fell into our hands 
an article in one of the magazines in 
which the writer—a missionary—made 
a passionate plea for men and women 
to come and tell the story of a Sav¬ 
iour’s love for sinners? “O, the peo¬ 
ple ! the people!” she wrote earnestly, 
as if overwhelmed by the thought of 
their numbers and their need. “They 
are so dark and ignorant and lonely. 
Come and tell them that Christ loves 
them.” Christ sends His love to them 
with each returning day—sends it by 
us. Do we deliver it? Or do we take 
it and keep it all ourselves? What 
does He think of us as messengers? 

289. His Permit. 

In Korea, the Japanese officials now 
equire all mission-workers to be regis¬ 
tered. A policeman stopped one of 
the Bible Society colporteurs and asked 
for his permit. “Here it is,” said the 
colporteur, opening the last chapter of 
Mark, and pointing to the words of the 




THE EDGE OF THE MAP 


77 


Great Commission: “Go ye into all 
the world, and preach the gospel.” He 
was allowed to pass on .—Christian 
Herald. 

290. The Edge of the Map. 

This is the tale of a tank and its 
map. Somewhere on the British Front 
a big push was in progress. The Ger¬ 
mans were in retreat. The battle was 
on, with much lumbering of the great 
tanks that made nothing of flattening 
a house and moving on over the de¬ 
bris. But one tank had stopped. It 
wasn’t disabled. It had no casualties 
among its crew. There was plenty of 
ammunition. Yet it had stopped dead 
in its tracks. An officer came up, and 
with much forcible language demanded 
why the huge iron beast should halt, 
when the job was yet far from fin¬ 
ished. The tank men understood his 
impatience, but still the monster rested. 
“The trouble is, sir,” said one of the 
crew, “we’ve got to the edge of our 
map”’ There be many folk in the 
Church of Christ who are like that 
tank crew. But if they are, then so 
far as missions are concerned they 
have the wrong map. The mission 
map takes in “the whole creation,” 
“every creature,” “all the world.”— H. 

291. Is Christianity a Failure? 

“How is it?” asked a man of a 
minister, “that your religion has been 
going for nearly two thousand years 
and has not influenced more people 
than it has done?” For reply, the 
minister asked another question: “How 
is it that water has been flowing for 
more than two million years and many 
people are still dirty?” It is not the 
fault of Christianity that people go 
without the remedy for human ill, but 
the loss is theirs just the same. Chris¬ 
tianity is not a failure. The Gospel is 
not a failure. Wherever it is preached 
in fidelity it wins. But there are some 
who “put it from them.”— H. 


292. A Missionary Messenger. 

In China, an ignominious form of 
punishment is to fasten upon the crim¬ 
inal a heavy plank in which a hole 
has been cut to admit the head. Upon 
this plank a description of the crime 
is printed in large letters. The of¬ 
fender is turned into the street to 
wander in the presence of a jeering, 
hooting mob. Recently in one of the 
villages a man was seen walking slow¬ 
ly up and down the street bearing upon 
his neck the badge of shame. The 
curious crowds that pushed forward 
to learn his crime were silent through 
astonishment. Instead of reading upon 
the board the record of broken law, 
they saw sentences like this: “God 
is love.” “Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” This 
man was not afraid of the gospel of 
Jesus Christ. 

Longing to share with his country¬ 
men the good news of salvation, he 
chose to wear the criminal’s collar 
that the thronging crowds that should 
gaze upon it might thus read a mes¬ 
sage from the true God. 

293. Is It Nothing to You? 

Is it nothing to you, O ye Christians? 

Oh, answer me this to-day. 

The heathen are looking to you; 

You can go, or give, or pray. 

You can save your soul from blood-guilti¬ 
ness, 

For in lands you have never trod 
The heathen are dying every day, 

And dying without God. 

Is it nothing to you, O ye Christians? 

Dare ye say ye have naught to do ? 

All over the earth they wait for the light, 

And is it nothing to you? 

294. Our Part. 

“The restless millions wait 
The light whose dawning 
Maketh all things new. 

Christ also waits; 

But men are slow and late. 

Have we done what we could? 
Have I? Have you?” 

295. The Bible and Missions. 

Stuart Jessup, a Presbyterian mis¬ 
sionary at Sidon, Syria, on one of 
his trips east of the Jordan River 



78 


HIS TWENTY-FOUR HOUR DAY 


found an entire village that had been 
Christianized by one Bible. Twenty 
years before, one of the villagers had 
been given this Bible while on a busi¬ 
ness trip to Damascus. Not one in 
the village at this time knew of Christ 
and His gospel. This one Bible was 
read and studied by every family in 
the village. Scarcely an evening would 
pass but that a few families would meet 
in some home to discuss the teach¬ 
ings of this wonderful book. And the 
villagers gave Mr. Jessup a glad wel¬ 
come when he arrived at their village, 
so eager were they to see and hear 
some one else who believed in their 
wonderful book. 

296. Reservations. 

History tells us that Louis XI “ex¬ 
ecuted a solemn deed of ownership,” 
conveying to the Virgin Mary the 
whole country of Boulogne in France; 
but reserved for himself all the reve¬ 
nues thereof 1 How much like this 
“solemn deed” are some of the pur¬ 
poses of missionary generosity we 
form. 

297. Why Poor Heathen? 

Whose fault is it that there are any 
poor heathen? A speaker at a meeting 
of the Laymen’s Missionary Move¬ 
ment drove this question into the con¬ 
sciences of his Christian hearers. If 
your father left in his will an in¬ 
heritance for you and your brother, 
and your brother being at a distance 
could only receive his inheritance if 
you sent it to him, would you feel free 
to decide whether to send it to him 
or not? and if you did send it to him 
would you take considerable credit to 
yourself for doing so? That’s for¬ 
eign missions. People talk compla¬ 
cently about the poor heathen. Why 
“poor” ? Because the heathen have 
not received their share of the inherit¬ 
ance which the Father left us to give 
them .—Sunday School Times. 


298. Only Moving. 

A bright little girl of about eight 
summers was wisely teaching a bit of 
a brother some two years younger 
than herself to master the difficult art 
of riding a bicycle. After many fruit¬ 
less trials the little lad steadied him¬ 
self as he wobbled from side to side 
and proudly shouted, “I’m moving. I 
really am moving!” His sedate bit of 
a sister eyed his movements calmly, 
and coldly replied: “Yes, you are mov¬ 
ing but you are not going!” How 
true this is in the Christian life. 
Bishop Fowler used to put it in this 
homely and terse way: “Lots of folks 
are like a yard engine, that toots its 
whistle, rings its bell, and makes a lot 
of noise, but never goes anywhere.” 

“Who will go?” We are told to go 
—to “get a move on us”—to go into 
all the world and preach the gospel 
to every creature.— H. 

299. Our Creditors. 

What would we think of a man who, 
being in debt, and able to pay, took 
advantage of the fact that his cred¬ 
itors, poor and ignorant folk, did not 
know of the money due to them and 
let them perish by nonpayment? One 
of the best governors of the Isle of 
Man was impeached for treason in the 
Civil Wars, and sentenced to death. 
The king granted a pardon; but it 
fell into the hands of a bitter enemy 
of the governor, who never delivered 
it, and the governor was executed. We 
hold in our hands the pardon of the 
world: shall we hold it back ?— D. M . 
Panton. 

300. His Twenty-four Hour Day. 

“You are always working,” I ex¬ 
claimed, as I entered the office of a 
business friend. “How many hours do 
you work each day?” “Twenty-four,” 
he replied with a smile. Then more 
seriously, “I became interested in mis¬ 
sions and determined to go to China, 




A WOMAN’S SERVICE 


79 


but my father died and his business 
was in such a state that no outsider 
could carry it on. My mother, sisters, 
and younger brother were dependent 
upon the profits of the house, so I was 
obliged to remain here. I then took 
the support of a native preacher in 
China as my substitute. In that way 
I work twenty-four hours a day, for 
my representative there is working 
while I sleep .”—Oriental Missionary 
Standard. 

301. Heathen Transformed. 

A missionary in Tokio tells of a 
Japanese woman who came to speak 
about having her daughter received 
into the school for girls which the 
teacher was conducting. She asked 
if only beautiful girls were admitted. 
“No,” was the reply, “we take any 
girl who desires to come.” “But,” 
continued the woman, “all your girls 
I have seen are very beautiful.” The 
teacher replied, “We tell them of 
Christ and seek to have them take 
Him into their hearts, and this makes 
their faces lovely.” The woman an¬ 
swered, “Well, I do not want my 
daughter to become a Christian, but I 
am going to send her to your school 
to get that look in her face.” 

302. What They Need. 

A missionary one day saw a poor 
woman lying prostrate on the ground, 
he saw her raise herself and put her 
feet where her head had been, and 
prostrate herself once more, and so 
she went on. He went up to her and 
asked what she was doing, and she 
gave in answer one Indian word which 
means “A vision of It.” He knew 
that the woman was going to travel 
thousands of miles in this way to see 
what she thought a sacred flame com¬ 
ing from a mountain. A great long¬ 
ing came over him that not only that 
woman but all India might have a 
vision, not of “It,” but of “Him.” 


303. A Woman’s Service. 

A wealthy Korean lady, beautifully 
dressed, stopped her sedan chair out¬ 
side a book shop in An Ding. Meeting 
a friend, she said, “I have just bought 
some books to give away to my un¬ 
believing neighbors.” “Where are the 
books ?” she was asked. “In the chair,” 
was the reply. And a coolie with a 
disgusted look on his face raised the 
curtain, and, behold! the chair was 
packed full of Mark’s Gospels, tracts, 
and hymn books. “But,” the lady was 
told, “the chair is full and you cannot 
get in!” “That’s no matter,” she 
laughed; “it is only thirty li (fifteen 
miles), and I can walk.” And those 
who know what riding in a chair 
stands for among Korean women can 
appreciate the sacrifice in this story. 
She was past fifty years old.— Chris¬ 
tian Age. 

304. Growing Up To Help. 

An eleven-year-old Indian girl lis¬ 
tened eagerly while her teacher told 
the story of Mackay of Uganda. “I 
am so afraid,” she said, “that every¬ 
body will be civilized before I’m old 
enough to go as a missionary. I’m 
only eleven now .”—World Wide. 

305. I Am Stingy. 

At a man’s banquet in Wisconsin, 
one man, not a member, but an oc¬ 
casional attendant, had sometimes given 
$10 a year to the work, pledged first 
$50 and then $100 with his family still 
to hear from. The pastor thanked him 
for his generosity. “You know that is 
not true,” he said, “I am stingy and 
so are most of us.” 

306. The Gospel Needed. 

Darwin, that great student of the 
human race, declared often to Ad¬ 
miral Sullivan his conviction that it 
was folly to send missionaries to the 
savages of Tierra del Fuego, as they 
were too far down in the scale of in¬ 
telligence to comprehend the truths 



8 o 


MADE HIS HEIRS PAY 


the missionaries tried to teach them. 
But after watching the missions there, 
Darwin frankly confessed his mistake, 
and sent the missionary society a con¬ 
tribution of twenty-five dollars. 

All men need and respond to the 
Gospel. 

307. A Missionary Offering? 

Two lads, one of eight and the other 
of six were playing “store.” The 
father, upon being told what game 
was being played, decided to make a 
purchase and dropped a penny on the 
counter. The six-year-old lad there¬ 
upon most indignantly declared their 
place was a store and not a church. 

308. Our Italian Neighbors. 

Recently an Italian woman, with all 
the earnestness of the woman of 
Sychar, asked of a Pennsylvania mis¬ 
sionary making his first call, “What 
is gospel?” 

309. Made Heirs Pay. 

A wealthy merchant in his age took 
a trip to California and with his esti¬ 
mable wife enjoyed a trip to that 
floral paradise. When asked “What 
did it cost?” he replied, “It did not 
cost me a cent. I made my heirs pay 
the bill.” Yes, he will have perhaps 
a few dollars less on which the attor¬ 
neys will calculate the income tax but 
it will not modify by a cent the 
proper expenditure during his natural 
lifetime. Why do not other thought¬ 
ful folks regulate their expense ac¬ 
count accordingly? 

A few years ago a well-to-do man 
died, and as his heirs figured up the 
total and rapidly divided it by the 
proper figures, a nephew sighed as he 
thought of his $250 legacy and ex¬ 
claimed, “I’ll blow that in some night.” 
Why did not the rich uncle just put 
such a check in the collection plate for 
missions or send it to the Tract So¬ 
ciety or help an orphan to an educa¬ 
tion rather than encourage a fast dude 


to a frolic on the Great White Way, 
a road the departed never trod ? O, if 
the old fathers could crawl out of the 
graves and revisit the offices and look 
over the check-books of their descend¬ 
ants, money would be plenty in the 
Mission Board and church treasuries, 
debts cancelled, work advanced, and 
the Kingdom of Christ hastened. 

310. “We Don’t Have to Come 

Back.” 

In a storm off Diamond Shoals a 
ship was foundering in the great 
waves. Captain Pat. Etheridge got the 
life-boat ready, but the crew hesitated 
in the face of the fearful peril. “Cap¬ 
tain Pat,” said one, “it’s no use with 
that wind. We can launch the boat, 
and we can reach the ship, but we can 
never come back.” “Boys,” said the 
old hero, “we don’t have to come 
back.” They launched the boat, 
reached the wreck, took off the sur¬ 
vivors, and after nine hours of terrific 
work got back to the station. It is 
this heroic sense that moves our mis¬ 
sionaries. They have the command 
“Go.” They hear the command 
“Preach.” They do not feel that they 
have got to live, or got to come back. 
But they do feel that they have got 
to go, and got to preach the Gospel 
to the unsaved.— H. 

311. Let The Druggist Give It! 

Mr. Brown, the boarder, gave the 
little girl of the family a dime. Later 
the little girl went walking with her 
mother. Passing a drug store the 
little girl said, “Come, mamma, let’s 
go in and get a soda.” Said the 
mother: “How can you pay for it?” 
The daughter said, “I have a dime Mr. 
Brown gave me.” Said the mother, 
“Why not keep it and give it to the 
missions?” Said the little girl, “I 
thought of that too, but decided to let 
the druggist give it 1” 



PAID IN FULL, 


81 


312. Giving to Christ’s Cause. 

There is a story of a Belgian sol¬ 
dier in the hospital with both legs cut 
off. A visitor said to him, “Are you 
sorry you fought?” 

“No,” he replied, “I wanted to offer 
my life for my beloved country, but 
I got a chance to give only a little.” 

“But,” remonstrated the visitor, 
“you must not disparage what you 
have done; you have lost both your 
legs.” 

“I did not lose them,” said the man 
simply, “I gave them.” 

A great many of us consider what 

we do and what we contribute as so 
much lost; we sort of have to do it, 
can’t well get out of it, the way we 
are situated; but it does not occur to 
us that it is so much gained instead.— 
Rev. John F. Cowan, D.D. 

313. The Narrow Vision. 

A man of great wealth lay upon 

his dying bed. His daughter was 
pleading with him to endow a chair 
in the college she was attending. The 
pledge was made out, and agreed upon 
by all the family. The sick man took 
the pen, then, torn with emotion, he 
laid it down, saying: “I can’t do it. 
I have had the money too long. I 
simply must keep it. I suppose I 
shall go into my grave with it. Oh, 
that I had had a different vision! I 
want to do it but my will will not let 
me* 

We need a different vision—a vis¬ 
ion from lifting up the eyes and look¬ 
ing on the fields—wide fields, white, 
all ready to harvest. 

314. Too Cheap. 

Do not make yourself too cheap. A 
noted artist lately offended his Gov¬ 
ernment and a reward was placed on 
his head. He was greatly offended for 
the price was too small. The old offer 
“a penny for your thoughts,” was no 
compliment to the mental grist of the 
grinder. If you want to keep humble 
6 


over your missionary benevolences, sit 
down and make an exact memorandum 
of what you have given, and then com¬ 
pare that with some of your other 
expenses of indulgences. Do not make 
yourself too cheap. 

315. Paid In Full. 

Donald and four grown-up relatives 
attended divine service one Sabbath 
morning. Donald selected the aisle 
seat, and when the missionary con¬ 
tribution plate was passed deposited in 
it the combined offerings of the fam¬ 
ily. The vestryman, not realizing this, 
moved as though to pass the plate to 
the others in the pew, when he was 
arrested by a highly-pitched, distinctly 
audible stage whisper announcing: “I 
paid for five.” 

316. Home Help. 

Phillips Brooks was once asked, 
“What is the first thing you would do 
if you accepted a call to become the 
rector of a small, discouraged con¬ 
gregation that is not even meeting its 
current expenses?” “The first thing 
I would do,” he replied, “would be to 
preach a sermon on and ask the con¬ 
gregation to make an offering for for¬ 
eign missions.” Phillips Brooks was 
never called to that kind of church, 
but many pastors and congregations 
to-day are proving in their own ex¬ 
perience that the best way to keep out 
of debt, develop a healthy church, serve 
the local community, is to adopt a 
world missionary policy and make of¬ 
ferings for carrying the message of 
Christ into all the world. 

317. Another Man’s Business. 

Sir William Macgregor, whose un¬ 
flagging zeal for humanity in many 
parts of the globe has done so much 
for the cause of Christianity, once 
discussed with me the relatively rapid 
progress of Mohammedanism in West 
Africa as compared with that of 
Christianity. “It’s just this,” he said, 



8 2 


HIS MISSIONARY AMMUNITION 


“every Mohammedan regards himself 
as a missionary; the majority of 
Christians think it is another man’s 
work .”—Bishop Frodsham. 

318. Giving to Missions. 

In one of the rural churches of Eng¬ 
land there is a statue beautifully 
carved in wood which represents our 
Lord with an outstretched and pierced 
hand, standing over the offertory. The 
gifts of the people are placed in this 
pierced hand, and through it make 
their way into the offertory. Oh that 
we could always see our Lord with 
that pierced hand standing over and 
by us! How joyfully would we then 
put our gifts into it, and how abundant 
would those gifts be! 

“Give as you would to the Master, 

If you met His loving look; 

Give as you would of your substance, 

If His hand the offering took.” 

319. A Missionary Prayer. 

Whither Thou sendest. 

Whither Thou leadest 
Thither my journey. 

Eastward or westward, 

Northward or southward, 

Dayward or nightward, 

Joyward or woeward, 

Homeward or starward, 

So be it Thee-ward, 

Thither my journey. 

320. His Missionary Ammunition. 

It was old Kim, the tiger hunter, 
whom Bishop Lambuth met in Korea, 
a grizzled old man, with weather¬ 
beaten face, and sun-burned neck and 
shoulders furrowed by the claws of 
more than one tiger. “What have 
you in that bag, Brother Kim?” “Am¬ 
munition,” was his laconic reply, with 
a smile, as he showed his New Testa¬ 
ment and hymn-book. “Do you no 
longer hunt tigers?” “No, Moksa, I 
am hunting for men .”—Helen Barrett 
Montgomery. 

321. Who Would Witness? 

Dr. Torrey says; “Some years ago 
I was trying to persuade a young 
lawyer that he ought to be a soul- 


winner. He turned upon me with the 
remark, ‘I am not called to the min¬ 
istry.’ I opened my Bible and read 
Acts 8:4, ‘They that were scattered 
abroad went everywhere preaching the 
word.’ ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but those were 
the apostles.’ ‘Will you read the first 
verse of the chapter?’ I answered. 
And he read, ‘They were all scattered 
abroad except the apostles 1’ ” 

322. “Lift up Your Eyes.” 

A woman who passed through New 
York into New Jersey by the subway 
and the tube was asked what she 
thought of the city. She replied she 
could not tell, as she had had only a 
worm’s-eye view of it. This is the 
case with many of us. We live too 
low to get the upper, larger vision.— 
China’s Millions. 

323. A Fine Testimony. 

Some one going over to China asked 
the captain of the vessel whether there 
were any missionaries in Shanghai. 
“Yes,” he replied, “the place is in¬ 
fested with them.” That was a fine 
testimony to the reality of Chris¬ 
tianity in the great land of China. 
And yet six or seven thousand mis¬ 
sionaries, all told, are not many among 
four hundred millions of people. 

But the Gospel of Christ is influ¬ 
ential in China out of all proportion 
to the actual number of workers and 
converts, and it is compelling atten¬ 
tion to our Lord in ways that are sig¬ 
nificant and encouraging. The other 
four faiths in China, while they have 
multitudes of adherents and contain 
much valuable teaching, lack power to 
uplift and transform lives. Although 
in a summer visit it is impossible to 
have personal experience of many or¬ 
dinary mission stations, I saw more 
than enough of the conditions to make 
me feel that our missionaries need and 
deserve all the sympathy, supplication, 
and support we can give them.— W* H . 
G. Thomas, D£). 



THE SECRET OE LARGE RETURNS 


83 


324. Like Some Giving to Mis¬ 

sions. 

A minister was once preaching on 
the subject of “Giving” at a small 
chapel, and during the sermon he was 
rejoiced to note that a member of the 
congregation crept quietly out of his 
seat, and, going to the side of the 
chapel, placed a coin in a box. A 
little later another did the same. 
Never, thought the minister, had his 
sermon met with such a practical re¬ 
sponse before. On leaving the chapel 
he was accosted by one of the mem¬ 
bers “I hope we didn’t disturb you, 
sir,” he said, “but ours is a penny-in- 
the-slot meter, and we should have 
been in darkness if we hadn’t at¬ 
tended to it .”—The Christian. 

325. The Secret of Large Returns. 

There is an old story which con¬ 
tains good advice. A minister who 
was to preach in a strange church 
took his little son along. Noticing a 
collection box in the vestibule he put 
in a coin. After the service was over, 
the treasurer asked the minister to 
wait until he received the offering for 
the visiting minister. He opened the 
box already mentioned. It contained 
the single coin which the minister 
himself had put in. On the way home 
the little lad said, “Father if you had 
put more in you would have got more 
out.” This rule holds good at all 
times.— B. Hovey. 

326. Which Nerves. 

A speaker at the Men’s Missionary 
Congress at Chicago told a story of a 
certain Christian who said to a friend 
who was interested in missions, “The 
subject of missions is getting on my 
nerves.” The friend replied, “I am 
told that there are two sets of nerves 
—sensory and motor: on which set 
of your nerves does this subject bear 
the harder ?—Sunday School Chronicle. 


327. Missionary Offering or Col¬ 

lection. 

A certain small boy had a dog which 
he named Fido. The boy was very 
fond of Fido. One day at dinner the 
boy’s father noticed that he took the 
best of the portion of roast beef which 
had fallen to his lot and placed it on 
another plate. Upon inquiry, the 
father learned that the meat was for 
the dog Fido. “My son,” said father, 
“it would be better if you ate that 
meat yourself and gave Fido some of 
the scraps that are left.” The boy 
protested, but his father was obdurate. 
At the conclusion of the meal the 
boy took out to Fido a plate heaped 
with scraps of the roast. “Here, 
Fido,” said the boy, “I wanted to make 
you an offering, but here is only a 
collection.” Love for the Master 
should be great enough to prompt an 
offering at each attempted service. 

328. Believe Not Alone. 

A wounded Japanese soldier, while 
in the hospital, was converted to 
Christ. He labored faithfully with 
some of his comrades in the hospital, 
and afterward was heard to say, “I 
must go home soon and get the people 
of my village to believe.” A sugges¬ 
tion was made to him that it might be 
well for him to wait a while before 
going home, till he was better in¬ 
structed in Christian doctrine. The 
suggestion astonished him, and he re¬ 
plied simply, “It will never do for 
me to believe this alone; I must tell 
them .”—The Missionary Herald. 

329. Giving Is Getting. 

A church in Ohio was ready to dis¬ 
band when some one proposed they 
support a missionary. To-day that 
church is one of the best in Ohio. 
A church in Pennsylvania with less 
than forty members poor in resources, 
started out by giving $118.00 to mis¬ 
sions. In two years they had three 
hundred members and had greatly in- 



8 4 


THE GREATEST MISSIONARY MOTIVE 


creased their pastor’s salary. Many 
a Christian has been prospered just 
as he has made Christ’s kingdom a 
sharer in his income. We do not give 
to get back, but when we give out of 
love to Christ, he blesses us, in heart, 
in joy, in character, and often in our 
basket and store. 

330. You Give: God Gives. 

Every once in a while I hear some 
one growl against foreign missions, 
because the money and the strength put 
into them are needed at home. I did 
it myself when I did not know better. 
God forgive me. I know better now; 
and I will tell you how I found out. 
I became interested in a strong re¬ 
ligious awakening in my own city of 
Copenhagen, and I set about investi¬ 
gating it. It was then that I learned 
what others had learned before me, 
and what was the fact there, that for 
every dollar you give away to con¬ 
vert the heathen abroad, God gives you 
ten dollars’ worth of purpose to deal 
with your heathen at home .—Jacob 
Riis. 

331. Great Missionary Documents. 

The two greatest missionary docu¬ 
ments are the Lord’s Prayer and the 
parable of the Prodigal Son. If you 
have ever read the parable of the 
Prodigal Son as the agony of a be¬ 
reaved father’s heart you will find 
that missions are placed in the very 
heart of our God and Father whose 
name we bear. And if you have ever 
said, “Our Father,” you have felt the 
call and passion of brotherhood that 
runs through the whole of the mis¬ 
sionary movement. It is there that 
Jesus laid the foundation of all this 
missionary enterprise.— Prof. O. B. 
Brown. 

332. Mission Giving Enlarges The 

Man. 

But the greater blessing of giving 
to missions consists in the larger man, 


for in giving he has dethroned selfish¬ 
ness and made his heart a more fit 
dwelling-place for the Holy Spirit. A 
man riding along the street dropped a 
quarter into the outstretched hand of 
a beggar woman, but as he rode away 
he began to repent his good deed, say¬ 
ing : “How, do I know that the woman 
is worthy? She may take that money 
and spend it on drink;” and he rode 
back and asked the woman to return 
the money; the astonished woman did 
so, and was more astonished to re¬ 
ceive a five-dollar bill. As the man 
rode away a second time he was heard 
to murmur: “There, self, I guess you 
wish you had kept quiet.” I know of 
no better way to down the selfish man 
in all of us than hearty, systematic, 
and prayerful giving to missions.— 
Missionary Review. 

333. An American Shame. 

A missionary recently said: “In the 
interior of Laos I saw shops with 
long rows of bottles labeled ‘Scotch 
Whiskey,’ ‘French Brandy,’ and ‘Aus¬ 
tralian Beer.’ In Bangkok I read the 
English sign, ‘Place for drinking of 
the delightful juice.’ Near the Silli- 
man Institute, where we are teaching 
Filipino boys, there is a building bear¬ 
ing the infamous inscription, ‘Amer¬ 
ican Saloon.’ Why should the streams 
of influence pouring into Asia and 
Africa from Christian nations be pol¬ 
luted by slime from the pit?” 

334. The Greatest Missionary Mo¬ 

tive. 

Bear Christ to the heathen, and you 
will be borne by Christ, uplifted, 
strengthened, and divinely impelled in 
your work. Hence observe the divine 
order: not, “Ye shall be witnesses 
unto me,” as in our common version, 
but “Ye shall be my witnesses.” We 
are not to stand in the world, and 
testify to Christ, but stand in Christ, 
and testify to the world. * * * * 



REFLEX INFLUENCE OF MISSIONS 


85 


Not philanthropy, the love of man, but 
phil-Christy, the love of Christ, con¬ 
stitutes the greatest missionary motive. 
— A. J. Gordon, D.D. 

335. The Reflex Influence of Mis¬ 

sions. 

The reflex influence of the knowl¬ 
edge of and interest in missions 
through the Holy Spirit is strikingly 
shown in a letter which Phillips 
Brooks wrote from North Andover, 
in July, 1888, to the Rev. A. A. Le- 
froy a member of the Cambridge Mis¬ 
sion at Delhi, India. Mr. Brooks 
says: “We are neither impatient nor 
reluctant at the thought of the day 
when we shall have finished here and 
go to higher work. But dear me, 
what right have I to say all this to 
you, who know it so much better, who 
are putting it so constantly and richly 
into your life and work? I grow 
stronger for Boston when I think of 
Delhi.” 

336. Civilizes Where It Touches. 

Africa is coming to be belted with 
brickyards out of whose product 
houses, churches, schools, and all the 
structures of civilization are built. 
The artisans who built the splendid 
edifice of the Free Church of Scot¬ 
land at Blantyre were natives whose 
fathers had never seen a white man. 
It is the genius of the religion to 
civilize where it touches .—Cyrus C. 
Adams. 

337. Reaction on Home Work. 

By an eternal law, home work and 
foreign work flourish or decay to¬ 
gether. Contributions to home work 
have never been diminished because 
the work of the church abroad has 
taken its proper place in our parochial 
organizations. On the contrary, they 
will grow and increase,* for foreign 
work acts and reacts on the home 
work. Schools, Bibles, classes, serv¬ 
ices in church, are all stronger, 


brighter healthier in proportion as the 
duty to preach the Gospel to the 
heathen is recognized. 

338. The Trade Return. 

America, through the American 
Board, expended in fifty years $1,- 
250,000 to evangelize Hawaii, and 
during that time received about $4,- 
000,000 a year in trade. England’s 
missions are said to bring back $50 in 
trade for every $5 given to convert 
the heathen.— Gen. Armstrong. 

339. Living Power Introduced. 

Years ago apiarists found that the 
Italian bee had qualities which made 
it, for the production of honey, 
greatly preferable to the native insect 
of this country, which was quarrel¬ 
some to handle, and less fertile, docile 
and dependable. The Italian bee has 
now generally supplanted the native. 
But to accomplish this result it was 
not necessary to substitute the foreign 
swarm for swarm and hive for hive. 
The bee-keeper wrote to Italy for a 
few queens, to be sent here by mail, 
enclosed in a bit of wood with holes 
covered with wire gauze. By skill in 
manipulation a queen was introduced 
in each hive, and the native queen 
removed. Here was a new living 
power for renovation introduced among 
old conditions. The new brood re¬ 
placed the former one and in a season 
the whole swarm was transformed. 
These queen bees are alive; the word 
is alive with the life of the Spirit of 
God. Men want that which is more 
valuable than the thing which they 
possess. They get a glimpse—or even 
merely hear the rumor—of the pure, 
attractive home of the missionary; 
they see the work of the school in the 
amazing alteration of the children’s 
behavior; they learn of the merciful 
doings of the hospital, the wonders of 
the press, the book, the paper. Famine 
work and a hundred other experiences 
are as that which the woman “took 



86 


STRUCK THE LEGS AND FEET 


and hid.” The influence of Christ’s 
spirit and teaching is set before them 
in a few lives which have yielded 
themselves to it. Irresistibly it asserts 
itself as a marvelous power, offering 
what cannot but be recognized as in¬ 
finitely to be coveted. The spirit and 
life of Christ are in it. 

340. Struck the Legs and Feet. 

A convention speaker said: “Mis¬ 
sionary interest first struck the head, 
and after a while got as far as the 
mouth, then the heart, conscience and 
will and by and by the pocket, and 
last of all the legs and feet!” 

341. Missions Moving the Heathen. 

At the seaport town of Po-hio in 
China, during a Christian meeting, a 
man arose and said: “Friends you 
all know me. I have been a Christian 
less than a year. I own a seagoing 
junk, and yesterday we came into port, 
having been out in the great typhoon 
that swept the coast last week. Right 
in the midst of the storm the crew 
struck. * * * I prayed God to 
send them back to work. He did. 
Now if I were still a worshipper of 
idols, I would have gone to-day to the 
temple on the hill and offered a great 
sacrifice to show my gratitude. I do 
not want to be less thankful to the 
God who heard my prayer. I have 
brought here an offering of fifty dol¬ 
lars. You know better what to do 
with it; I leave it with you.” This 
man had been out of heathenism less 
than a year. 

342. Trying to Cheat God. 

“A Chinaman believes that he can 
cheat his god,” says Dr. R. F. Horton. 
“He believes, for instance, that he can 
put a garment upon his child and write 
in large letters upon the back that this 
child has had the cholera and the god, 
seeing the letters on the back, con¬ 
cludes that the child has already had 
the cholera, and will not give the child 


the cholera again. Even intelligent 
Chinamen believe that it is quite easy 
to trick a god and take him in, con¬ 
sequently the whole life of China is 
riddled, through and through, with 
trickery and deceit. The ancient 
Romans claimed that the sacrifice of a 
white ox was more pleasing to their 
god Jupiter than any other, and they 
could cheat him by taking a spotted ox 
and chalking over the black spots.”— 
Bpworth Herald. 

343. Withholding From Christ’s 

Kingdom. 

The late eloquent Dr. George C. 
Lorimer used to tell how once he asked 
a man to join the church. “No,” said 
the man, adding: “The dying thief 
never joined the church, yet he went 
to heaven.” “Will you aid the 
Church then by making a contribution 
to missions?” added the doctor. “No,” 
answered the man, “the dying thief 
never gave to missions, and yet he 
went to heaven.” “Ah yes,” retorted 
Dr. Lorimer, “but there is this differ¬ 
ence between him and you. He was 
a dying thief while you are a living 
one.” Now, since it is to God pri¬ 
marily that we owe all we have and 
enjoy; and since, secondarily, it is to 
the Kingdom that we owe the best 
things of life; and since the Founder 
of the Kingdom purchased both our¬ 
selves and our possessions with “a 
price all price beyond,” even his own 
precious blood, it does seem that, in 
order to cancel the infinite debt we 
owe to Him we cannot withhold our 
money from His Kingdom.— Rev. S. 
B. Dunn, D.D. 

344. Not Turning Aside. 

A home missionary, Stephen Paxson, 
was once asked by a friend to take 
fifty thousand dollars for him and in¬ 
vest it in Western land, with equal 
shares in the profits. Paxson declined. 
Some years later they met. The fifty 
thousand dollars had been invested and 



THE GOSPEL AN INCONVENIENCE 


87 


doubled. Stephen Paxson drew out his 
notebook, and pointed to his record of 
fifty thousand children gathered into 
the Sunday-school. “And if I had it 
to do over again,” he said, “I would 
not change the investment.” What do 
you “seek first”? 

345. His Last Solace. 

A collector at Bombay had among 
his curiosities a Chinese god marked 
“Heathen Idol,” and next to it a gold 
coin marked “Christian Idol.” Dean 
Farrar says that a famous physician 
once told him how he was attending 
the death-bed of a rich man, who 
seemed as if he could not die; with 
aimless and nervous restlessness his 
hands kept moving and opening and 
shutting over the counterpane. “What 
is the matter?” asked the physician. 
“I know,” answered the son for his 
speechless father; “every night before 
he went to sleep my father liked to 
feel and handle some of his bank¬ 
notes.” Then he slipped a ten pound 
note into the old man’s hand, and feel¬ 
ing, handling, and clutching it, he died. 

346. Christ’s Onward March. 

There are no backward steps in 
Christ’s march down the centuries and 
across the nations to universal victory. 
— Rev. Dr. Judson Smith. 

347. The Inducement. 

A missionary was once asking a 
Burmese boatman if he were willing 
to preach the Gospel to his fellow- 
countrymen. The man was getting 
good pay as a boatman, and the mis¬ 
sionary told him that he would only be 
able to pay him eight shillings a 
month, instead of the thirty shillings 
he was earning. “How is it?” he 
asked. “Will you go for eight shil¬ 
lings?” It was hard for the man to 
decide. For some moments he sat 
pondering, then looking up he said, 
“I will not go for eight shillings, but 
I will go for Christ.” 


348. Studying Geography. 

A few years ago there was in the 
Punjab a desperate character by the 
name of Gulu. Gulu was touched by 
Christ and became a mighty man of 
prayer—more, he became one of the 
great intercessors of God. He would 
spend hours in pleading for the af¬ 
fairs of the Kingdom, until the pre- 
spiration streamed down his face. One 
day Gulu came to the missionary. 
“Sahib,” said he, “teach me some ge¬ 
ography.” “Why, Gulu, what do you 
want with geopraphy at your age?” 
“Your Honor, I wish to study geo¬ 
graphy that I may know more places 
to pray for.” 

349. The Gospel an Inconvenience. 

“Please do not come here for the 
next two weeks. We like to have you 
come, but you see the next two weeks 
is our special time for thieving, and 
your message of Jesus creates in us a 
desire to be honest and righteous. If 
you continue to come, we will not have 
the courage or desire to steal.” This 
was the tribute paid to Jesus and His 
message by some Ahir people of a 
criminal tendency, in Ballia, India, and 
reported by a Methodist missionary. 
—Missionary Herald. 

350. The Sign of a Live Church. 

The Bishop of Nelson (New Zea¬ 
land), at a recent meeting, told of two 
men who met recently, and one asked 
the other for a subscription for his 
church. The reply was that the church 
was always wanting money. The other 
friend said, “When my lad was a boy, 
he was costly; he always wanted 
boots and shoes, stockings and clothes, 
and wore them out fast, and the older 
and stronger he grew the more money 
had to be spent on him, but he died, 
and does not now cost me a shilling.” 
“Yes,” said the Bishop, “a live church 
always wants money.” 



88 


YOUR SOUL AND THE HEATHEN 


351. A South American Standard. 

When the pastor of a mission in 
Chile began recently to collect funds 
for a church school, an old woman, 
who was very poor, gave her part, 
which amounted, to over fifty pesos. 
It was all she had. She is a washer¬ 
woman, all alone in the world, and 
has to work hard for her bread. She 
had an interest in a little ranch, but she 
sold it and gave the proceeds to the 
school fund. She refused to reconsider 
her decision when urged to do so by 
the pastor’s wife. Such is the de¬ 
velopment of the New Testament 
standard of living in the far comers 
of our world. 

352. Forsaking a Heathen God. 

Elijah on Mt. Carmel was not 
braver than Kapiolani, the Hawaiian 
princess, who defied the goddess Pele 
and delivered her people from the 
thraldom of the agelong fear. 

The princess received the gospel as 
a little child, put away her many hus¬ 
bands, destroyed the idols she had 
served, and, although herself looked 
upon as divine by her ignorant sub¬ 
jects, went to the lowest hovels and 
ministered to the sick and dying. 

Idolatry had been officially over¬ 
thrown, but the people still lived in 
terror of the ancient gods. Kapiolani 
resolved to face the most terrible of 
all, Pele, a goddess whose habitation 
was supposed to be in the depths of a 
burning crater, Kilauea, which has 
shaken even English visitors with the 
hideous terrors of its fathomless, sul¬ 
phurous depths. 

The people, weeping, tried to dis¬ 
suade her, but the princess said: 
“There is but one God, He will keep 
me from harm.” Alone she faced the 


mountain ascent, eating the sacred 
berries supposed to be death to the 
eater. Into the sea of fire she hurled 
stones—at Pele. “Jehovah is my God. 
I fear not Pele,” she cried. 

Then she returned, unhurt, triumph¬ 
ing over Pele, not for herself, but 
for her people, for whose salvatioin 
she was willing to die.— Rev. R. P. 
Anderson. 

353. A Cry From Africa. 

In one of his missionary tours Peter 
Cameron Scott, missionary to Africa, 
gives a most touching description of 
what was accomplished after having 
preached Jesus for nearly two hours 
or more. A very old heathen man, 
having most attentively listened, came 
tottering up to where he stood, and 
after asking a few most searching 
questions, became somewhat satisfied 
that the blood of Jesus could even 
cleanse away his sins, and while open¬ 
ing his heart to the Saviour closed his 
conversation by asking with deep 
pathos, in trembling tones (while the 
tears were glistening in his eyes) : 
“Why didn’t you tell us the story 
sooner; why didn’t you let us know ?” 

354. Your Soul and the Heathen. 

There was a time when I had no 
care or concern for the heathen; that 
was the time when I had no care or 
concern for my own soul; when by the 
grace of God, I was led to care for my 
own soul, then it was I began to care 
for the heathen abroad. In my closet, 
on my bended knees, I then said to 
God, “O, Lord, Thou knowest that 
silver and gold to give to this cause 
I have none; what I have I give unto 
Thee. I offer myself; wilt Thou 
accept the gift ?”—Alexander Duff, 
D.D. 



VISION THAT VISUALIZES 


89 


IV. YOUNG PEOPLE’S DAY 


(First Sunday 

355. Instantly. 

An aviator told me recently that 
when you loop the loop in an airplane 
it it necessary to move the control 
stick in just the right direction when 
you get to the point where you are up¬ 
side down, in order to complete the 
loop. If you fail to do this, you be¬ 
gin to come down head first. 

Every day there are decisions that 
you and I have to make. They have 
to be made instantly. Make instant 
decision for Christ.— H. 

356. The Third Shot. 

During the time while we partici¬ 
pated in the Great War the French 
army admired the speed and smooth¬ 
working quality of the American ar¬ 
tillery. They knew it delivered the 
goods, and that it could be absolutely 
relied upon when it was needed. 

“It’s like this,” said an enthusiastic 
French general. “The shells go one, 
two, three—finish!” 

He meant that an airplane got the 
range, and gave it to the guns by sig¬ 
nals or wireless. The battery fired, 
and the watching airplane reported, 
“Short.” The second shot also missed, 
and the aviator told whether it went 
to one side of the object or over it. 
The third shot usually struck home, a 
direct hit. 

The Americans did not waste am¬ 
munition. Every failure to hit the 
mark helped them toward the “finish.” 
Efficiency was the watchword there. 
If you didn’t hit, you would be hit. 
And so it is with life. The first shot 
is the local schools, both graded and 
high; the second shot is college; and 
the third shot is the efficient start of 
your career. 

Hit the nail on the head by making 
minutes count, by doing a day’s work 


m February.) 

six times each week, and by using the 
third shot to plant yourself firmly in 
the line of work that fits you. In war 
or work, the carefully selected, 
thought-out plan invariably wins.— 
Carl S . Lowden. 

357. Give God All. 

Rev. Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman called 
on General Booth and asked him the 
secret of his success. The General 
hesitated a moment, and then said: “I 
will tell you the secret. God has had 
all there was of me. There have been 
men with greater brains than I, men 
with greater opportunities; but from 
the day I got the poor of London oh 
my heart, and a vision of what Jesus 
Christ could do with the poor of Lon¬ 
don, I made up my mind that God 
would have all of William Booth there 
was.” 

358. Way Up. 

The graduating class of the High 
School of Manasha, Wisconsin, had 
this distinctive class motto: “The 
elevator to success is not running— 
take the stairs.” 

359. Get a Good Ready. 

Nestor stood before the Greek gen¬ 
erals at Troy and said: “The secret 
of victory is in getting a good ready.” 
— Hillis. 

360. Enthusiasm. 

\y When Lord Lansdowne asked what 
he could do to reform the profligate 
people of a certain community, he was 
answered, “Send them an enthusiast.” 

361. Vision That Visualizes. 

You cannot believe little things and 
do great things; you cannot believe 
in half successes and accomplish whole 
ones. A man’s faith sets the boun- 



,2° 


“I’M AS BIG AS IT IS” 


daries of his work. He will do what 
he believes, and accomplish what he 
believes can be accomplished. Moun¬ 
tains are not subdued by men who 
stand discouraged at a mole hill. A 
man must conquer the fatigues of the 
way in his own heart, or he will never 
set out on the road. Back of all free 
action lies some creed, some convic¬ 
tion. All great battles have been 
fought and either lost or won in the 
heart. The simple or stubborn con¬ 
fidence that leads to all-conquering 
effort—this is faith, the vision that 
vitalizes. 

362. “Not to Sit Up—and Sit.” 

There is suggestion for ambitious 
young people in the motto: 

“Not to sit up—and sit 
But to git up—and git.” 

It refers to the jack rabbit, a common 
object on Texas plains. The rabbit 
is reputed as a creature who likes very 
much, for a time, to sit up and ac¬ 
complish nothing but look handsome. 
His value as an object-lesson for con¬ 
secrated Christians, however, lies in 
the fact that when he feels there is 
something for him to do he leaves 
his post on a second’s notice and trav¬ 
els with inspiring speed until he gets 
it done. 

363. For the Love of It. 

At a county fair in New England 
there was a continual crowd around 
one agricultural exhibit which excited 
a great deal of admiration, and was 
the occasion of many remarks. The 
exhibit was marked, “Raised on an 
Abandoned Farm.” The articles shown 
were grown by a man who had for¬ 
merly followed another occupation, up¬ 
on a farm in a rough hill town, which 
its owner had found an undesirable 
piece of property, and had practically 
deserted. The exhibit included twenty- 
two varieties of potatoes, several var¬ 
ieties of wheat, oats, barley, rye, and 
beans, onions, pumpkins, squashes, 


melons, beets, carrots, and turnips. 
The people kept the proprietor of the 
“abandoned farm” busy explaining how 
he produced such wonderful results. 
His reply was that he took delight in 
farming, and did the best he could. 
“O yes,” said one bystander, “he’s 
farming for the love of it.” “And 
I imagine,” said another bystander, 
“that if the farmer who had the place 
before this man took it had farmed a 
little more for the love of it, he 
wouldn’t have had any occasion to go 
off and leave it .”—The Youth's Com¬ 
panion. 

364. “I’m As Big As It Is.” 

A three-year-old tried to move a 
table. After she had struggled long, 
her mother tried to discourage her 
attempts, saying: “Baby, you can’t 
move that table. It’s as big as you 
are.” “Yes, I can,” was the little 
girl’s stout reply, “I’m as big at it is.” 

There is a great deal of difference 
between the two ways of looking at 
the job. Frequently to say “the task 
is as big as I am” is to invite defeat. 
But to say “I am as big as the job 
is” is the first step toward victory. 

365. On Time. 

A year or two ago, among a class 
of shorthand pupils, was one young 
girl who had shown herself a particu¬ 
larly bright, keen student. Just as 
she had completed the course, a call 
from one of the best paying houses 
in the city came, and she was promptly 
recommended for the place, an ap¬ 
pointment for an interview with the 
manager being arranged for that eve¬ 
ning. 

The hour for the interview was 
seven o’clock, the manager going to 
his office especially to meet her. He 
was on hand punctually, waited fifteen 
or twenty minutes, and left for home 
just before she arrived. She had 
stopped to chat a bit on the way l 
To-day she is working for another 



THE SEED OE SUCCESS 


9 i 


firm at about one-half the salary she 
would have received from the first. 

366. The Secret of Success. 

Staunch old Admiral Farragut— 
he of true heart and iron will—said 
to another officer of the navy, “Du¬ 
pont, do you know why you didn’t get 
into Charlestown with your ironclads?” 
“Oh, because the channel was so 
crooked!” “No, it was not that.” 
“Well, the rebel fire was perfectly 
horrible.” “Yes, but it wasn’t that.” 
“What was it, then?” “It was because 
you did not believe you could go in.” 
There is all the difference in the 
world between the young man or young 
woman who expects to succeed and the 
one who simply doubts.— H. 

367. If You’re Out to Win. 

“It takes a little courage 
And a little self-control, 

And some grim determination. 

If you want to reach a goal. 

It takes a deal of striving, 

And a firm and stern-set chin, 

No matter what the battle, 

If you’re really out to win.” 

368. Neglect. 

Neglect, plain, simple neglect, has 
bred more havoc in almost more ways 
than many other causes combined. 
Neglect of civility at a proper time 
has lost a friend. Neglect of a simple 
duty at a critical moment has often 
lost an ambitious young man a posi¬ 
tion. Neglect of the laws of health 
has lost a life. Neglect of a free 
salvation has lost a soul. It matters 
not whether the neglect arises from 
heedlessness, indifference, carelessness, 
willfulness, or ignorance, the result, in 
most instances, is the same. The 
moral of it all is that we have no right 
to be heedless, or indifferent, or willful. 

369. The Seed of Success. 

“If you want to know whether you 
are going to be a success or failure in 
life, you can easily find out. The test 


is simple and infallible. Are you able 
to save money? If not, drop out. 
You will fail as sure as you live. You 
may not think so, but you will. The 
seed of success is not in you .”—James 
J. Hill. 

370. Blunders. 

In a record in the Crerar Library 
in Chicago several hundred men tell 
their great blunders in life. One 
counts it as his greatest blunder that 
he did not stick to anything; another, 
that he would not hearken to the ad¬ 
vice of older people. 

371. “Count on Me.” 

A college student who was unin¬ 
terested in art, was once persuaded by 
his mother to visit an art gallery to 
view the painting of the “Man of 
Galilee.” After viewing it from every 
angle, an attendant, who had observed 
how earnestly and with what great in¬ 
terest he had studied the picture, said 
to him—“Great picture, isn’t it?”— 
“Yes it is a great picture and is weH 
named the ‘Man of Galilee.’ ” 

Then the student again softly stepped 
up to the painting and said, “Oh man 
of Galilee, if I can, in any way, help 
you to do your work in the world, 
you can count on me”—“count on me.” 

May there be a response in our 
hearts as we look to the Christ. Young 
man, young woman, will He be able to 
count on you? 

372. The Thing Worth While. 

“I cannot fiddle,” said Themistocles 
the Greek philsopher, “but I can make 
a small town grow into a great city.” 
No one man can do everything, and 
only a few things can anyone do well. 
In fact, as a rule, if a man does one 
thing well, that is the one thing he 
ought to do. Happy are they who 
find what they are fit for in life and 
then do with their might whatsoever 
their hands find to do! 



92 


BETTER THAN “GOOD ENOUGH” 


373. When the Stoker Heard the 

Call. 

One day during the Boer War, just 
as the train was starting from Water¬ 
loo Station, London, a fine man, hot 
and weary, entered the carriage where 
I was sitting, and hastily seating him¬ 
self, as if more exertion were impos¬ 
sible, exclaimed, “I’m called.” He 
soon fell asleep, and we noticed that 
he was a stoker, and was black with 
the soot and oil of his engine. He 
awoke and again exclaimed, “I’m 
called.” Then he told us he was a 
reservist, and was to join his regiment 
at Aldershot immediately. He did not 
wait to wash or put on his best clothes, 
but at once obeyed the call of his king. 
God has called us. Have we answered 
as readily ?—Sunday School Chronicle. 

374. Room—For What? 

“The roomiest thing we know of,” 
says the editor of a modern magazine, 
“is a man’s head. Carnegie’s skull was 
large enough to accommodate a square 
mile of steel mills. Columbus had 
space in his sufficient for a new 
world.” True enough—and that of 
Wilbur Wright took in the whole 
sky, while Newton’s was ready for the 
universe and its laws. 

Illimitable room is the mark of 
man’s brain. The child of God, he is 
formed to think largely, immeasurably. 
But he is given the power to control 
his own mental space. He can fill his 
mind with trifles or with immensities 
at will. Here is his responsibility, 
which cannot be shifted to the shoulder 
of circumstance or destiny. 

Room—for what? Shall it be the 
movies, or groat books? The thoughts 
of the market-place and the street, or 
the thoughts of God? The choice is 
a daily one, and life grows great or 
mean accordingly. 

375. An Aim in Life. 

I remember hunting in the Rocky 
Mountains one summer and an Indian 


called our attention to a black squirrel 
in a tree. Then, resting his old gun 
on a stump, he did not move, though 
the flies and gnats came and covered 
his face. He did not even heed one of 
them. He did not know they were 
there so intent was he upon that game. 
When he shot the squirrel, I asked him, 
“How could you bear all that annoy¬ 
ance?” Said he, “I did not notice the 
flies.” The gnats had not troubled 
him because his whole mind was on 
that squirrel. If a young man have 
about him all those flies and tempta¬ 
tions of bad habits; if he has also 
one great aim in life, he will not heed 
those annoyances, and they will not 
change the course of his life. 

376. Better Than “Good Enough.” 

To do well is to be able to do better. 
“Good enough” is small praise for 
anybody. A child can appreciate this 
quite as keenly as a man, A little 
girl between seven and eight years of 
age looked eagerly over her father’s 
shoulder as he examined the monthly 
report of her schooling. “I want to 
see what I got for reading,” she said. 
As the child had been somewhat dis¬ 
couraged because of her absences 
through sickness, the father thought to 
avoid dispiriting her by favorable 
comment on what was really an ex¬ 
cellent general showing. “You got 
nine,” he said, “and that is very good.” 
The child turned quickly around to 
face him, looked silently and soberly 
into his eyes for a moment, then said, 
with the superior emphasis of a know¬ 
ing smile, “Can’t you get ten?” That 
child was not satisfied with anything 
short of perfectness, and probably de¬ 
rived more stimulus from this expres¬ 
sion of her own high standard than 
from her father’s commendation of 
her attainment, which was something 
less. The appreciation of the highest 
may show character where the attain¬ 
ment, for one reason or another, falls 
below. 



FURNISHING SKIBO CASTLE 


93 


377. A Strange Sight at Sea. 

Sometimes a strange thing is seen at 
sea. The wind and currents and sur¬ 
face ice are all moving in one direc¬ 
tion, but a huge iceberg comes along 
moving against wind and tide and 
plowing its way through the surface 
ice in the opposite direction. What is 
the explanation? The surface ice 
floats with the current, but the iceberg 
has its base down in a deeper and 
more powerful current and is borne 
along majestically against all opposi¬ 
tion. Most men float with the surface 
currents, even when these are moving 
in the wrong direction. But occasion¬ 
ally there comes a man, like Columbus 
or Luther or Lincoln, who has got his 
will down into the deeper and more 
powerful current of God’s will, and 
then all the world must give way be¬ 
fore him as he plows his coujrse 
through. Surface winds and currents 
have no effect upon such a man; he 
is in the Gulf Stream of the universe 
and the very constellations are floating 
with him. These world-resisters and 
world-compellers are God-moved and 
are omnipotent in the Lord and in the 
power of His might .—Presbyterian 
Banner. 

378. Gladstone’s Advice to Young 

Men. 

Be sure that every one of you has 
his place and vocation on this earth, 
and that it rests with himself to find 
it. Do not believe those who too 
lightly say, “Nothing succeeds like 
success.” 

Effort—honest, manful, humble ef¬ 
fort—succeeds by its reflected action, 
especially in youth, better than suc¬ 
cess, which indeed, too easily and too 
early gained, not seldom serves, like 
winning the throw of the dice, to blind 
and stupefy. 

Get knowledge, all you can. 

Be thorough in all you do, and re¬ 
member that though ignorance often 
may be innocent, pretension is always 


despicable. Quit you like men; be 
strong, and exercise your strength. 
Work onward and upward, and may 
the blessing of the Most High soothe 
your cares, clear your vision, and 
crown your labors with reward! 

379. Furnishing Skibo Castle. 

Charles M. Schwab, the steel mag¬ 
nate, once said: “I know a young 
New York fellow who has built for 
himself a big business. He used to be 
a poorly paid clerk in a department 
store. One rainy day, when customers 
were few, the clerks had gathered in a 
bunch to discuss baseball. A woman 
came into the store wet and disheveled. 
The baseball fans did not disband; but 
this young fellow stepped out of the 
circle and walked over to the woman. 
‘What can I show you, madam?’ he 
asked courteously. She told him. He 
got the article promptly, laid it before 
her, and explained its merits smilingly 
and intelligently. In short, he treated 
the woman just as his employer would 
have treated her under similar cir¬ 
cumstances. 

“When the woman left she asked for 
his card. Later the firm received a 
letter from a woman ordering com¬ 
plete furnishings for a great estate in 
Scotland. ‘I want one of your men, 

Mr.-’ she wrote, ‘to supervise the 

furnishing personally.’ The name she 
mentioned was that of the clerk who 
had been courteous. ‘But, madam,’ 
wrote the head of the firm in response, 
‘this man is one of our youngest and 
most inexperienced clerks. Hadn’t we 

better send Mr.-?’ ‘I want this 

young man and no other,’ wrote the 
woman. ‘Large orders impose their 
own conditions.’ So our courteous 
young clerk was sent across the At¬ 
lantic to direct the furnishing of a 
great Scotch palace. His customer 
that rainy day had been Mrs. Andrew 
Carnegie. The estate was Skibo 
Castle.” 



94 


DO YOU KNOW OSMIRIDIUM ? 


380. The New Boy. 

“A new boy came into our office to¬ 
day,” said a wholesale grocery mer¬ 
chant to his wife at the supper table. 
“He was hired by the firm at the re¬ 
quest of the senior member, who 
thought the boy gave promise of good 
things. But I feel sure that boy will 
be out of the office in less than a 
week.” 

“What makes you think so?” 

“Because the first thing he wanted 
to know was just exactly how much he 
was expected to do.” 

“Perhaps you will change your mind 
about him.” 

“Perhaps I shall,” replied the mer¬ 
chant, “but I don’t think so.” 

Three days later the business man 
said to his wife, “About that boy you 
remember I mentioned three or four 
days ago. Well, he is the best boy 
that ever entered the store.” 

“How did you find that out?” 

“In the easiest way in the world. 
The first morning after the boy be¬ 
gan work he performed very faith¬ 
fully and systematically the exact 
duties assigned, which he had been so 
careful to have explained to him. 
When he had finished he came to me, 
and said, ‘Mr. H, I have finished all 
that work. Now what can I do?’ 

“I was greatly surprised, but I gave 
him a little job of work, and forgot 
all about him, until he came into my 
room with the question, ‘What next?’ 
That settled it for me. He was the 
first boy that ever entered our office 
who was willing, and volunteered to 
do more than was assigned him. I 
predict a successful career for that 
boy as a business man.” 

381. Don’t Forget the Best. 

In an old fairy tale the youth who 
had entered the treasure house was 
repeatedly admonished by the good 
spirit, “Don’t forget the best.” He 
choose that which seemed best and 
shone brightest, and so lost all. One 


of the tragic aspects of the life of 
young people is that they cannot bring 
the mature wisdom of later years to 
bear on the early decisions which af¬ 
fect all of their later life. In choosing 
friends, in deciding habits, in cultivat¬ 
ing a taste for literature and pleasure, 
in adopting a trade or profession, in 
choosing the sweetheart who is to be¬ 
come a lifelong partner, youth needs 
the ripest judgment; yet it commonly 
has only inexperience and impulse to 
control it. The choices made in youth 
are commonly the determining factors 
in life. Wise with a wisdom that is 
above this world is the young man or 
woman who makes the great choice 
which influences all other choices.— 
W. T. Ellis. 

382. Do You Know Osmiridium? 

That is, your osmiridium—the os¬ 
miridium of your special calling. 

What do I mean? This: 

Some miners were digging for 
gold along a river in Papua, in Brit¬ 
ish New Guinea, not long ago. Their 
picks broke into a mass of a flakish 
substance, blue-gray in color. They 
did not know what it was, and tossed 
it aside as worthless. 

Later the prospectors happened to 
tell a mining engineer about the mat¬ 
ter and he informed them that the 
discarded substance was osmiridium, 
a metal of the platinum family, eight 
times as valuable as gold! It is 
worth $200 an ounce. It is used to 
tip fountain pens and for the delicate 
bearings of fine machinery. 

Back rushed those luckless miners 
to their river, only to find that the 
violent tropical rains had washed 
away the greater part of the precious 
deposit. They scraped together what 
made two and a half pounds of os¬ 
miridium after it was refined, and 
sold it for about six thousand dollars. 
Hereafter, it is safe to say, they will 
look sharply for osmiridium wher¬ 
ever they dig. 



THE DIARY OF COLUMBUS 


95 


The moral is, Know your business, 
so thoroughly that you will be ready 
to take instant advantage of all excep¬ 
tional opportunities. Be armed against 
surprises. The ignorant, unprepared, 
careless worker is always complain¬ 
ing of poor luck. That is because he 
does not know osmiridium when he 
plunges his pick into it. The wise 
man has been on the lookout for os¬ 
miridium all his life .—Caleb Cobweb . 

383. The Diary of Columbus. 

Day after day on the long voyage 
of Christopher Columbus over the 
trackless Atlantic, in 1492, which re¬ 
sulted in the discovery of America, he 
wrote in his ship's log these simple, 
but very significant words: “We 
sailed westward, which was our 
course.” 

In the voyage of life each one of 
us in making it is of supreme im¬ 
portance that we early determine upon 
our course, and then, as did the great 
discoverer, hold persistently to it in 
the face of every head wind, every 
discouragement that may cross our 
bows. 

384. “Right There” 

A young surf man of the Atlantic 
Coast, who had risked his life to res¬ 
cue a man in the water, modestly 
said: “Why, it wasn’t anything. You 
see I was right there.” 

Earth’s useful people are always 
“right there” in the hour of need. 
They are never so busy with their own 
interests and pleasures that they are 
too far off to hear when the call for 
help comes, or to see when a neighbor 
is struggling in deep waters. 

The world is full of these who are 
benevolent and helpful in theory, but 
are never on the spot in practice. 
They do not see the outstretched hand, 
hear the pleading voice, or notice that 
the person who stands next in life’s 
great procession is a lonely stranger. 


385. Difficulties. 

A poor boy, a cripple, was envi¬ 
ously watching some other boys on 
the ballfield. A young man who stood 
beside him noted the discontent on 
his facet, and said to him, “You 
wish you were in those boys’ places, 
don’t you?” “Yes, I do,” was the 
answer. “I reckon God gave them 
money, education, and health, con¬ 
tinued the young man, “to help them 
to be of some account in the world. 
Did it never strike you that He gave 
you your lam ( e leg for the same 
reason,—to make a man of you?” 
The lad thought upon the words, grew 
heroic, conquered his hindrances, and 
became a noble Christian physician.— 
/. R. Miller, D.D. 

386. Success. 

“Never depend upon your genius,” 
said Ruskin. Hard work and per¬ 
sistence are the only stepping stones 
to success. Be very sure that you 
have chosen your occupation wisely, 
and then stick to it, through thick 
and thin. Never mind the discourage¬ 
ments; never mind the doubts of 
others; think of your calling, stick to 
it, work for it, plan for it, live for 
it; throw your mind, might, heart 
and soul into it, and, if you have fair 
ability, you will win. Every one ad¬ 
mires an iron determination, and peo¬ 
ple will always help you the way you 
are going. If you are going up, they 
will give you a lift. If you are going 
down, they will give you a kick. 

387. Not Picking Materials. 

“You are building a good wall 
there,” said a passerby, stopping to 
look at a workman by the roadside. 
“Some of your material looks rather 
poor to work with, too,” and he 
glanced at a pile of rough, jagged 
stones. “I ain’t pickin’ my materials,” 
the man answered simply. “What 
I’m here for is to build as good a wall 



96 


THE HAMLET TYPE 


as I can with the stuff that’s brought 

99 

me. 

388. Second Mile. 

A New England railroad president 
gave this solid advice: “Let every 
man a little more than fill the position 
he occupies. When he does that, a 
wider one will open to him.” 

389. The Hamlet Type. 

Thomas W. Lawson, at a dinner in 
Boston, talked about success. 

“Success in finance,” he said, “is 
due in great measure to prompt ac¬ 
tion. The doubting, hesitating, Ham¬ 
let type of man had best keep out of 
finance. He is sure to be swamped. 
The street has no use for him. 

“Such a man always makes me 
think of my boyhood friend, Grimes. 
Grimes was a falterer, a doubter, a 
Hamlet of the worst type. 

“One night I dropped in on him, 
and found him bent in a brown study 
over a white vest. 

“ ‘Hello, Grimes/ said I. ‘What’s 
the matter?’ 

“ ‘This vest/ said he. ‘It’s too dirty 
to wear, and not dirty enough to send 
to the wash. I don’t know what to do 
about it.’ ” 

390. Ideals. 

Many build as cathedrals were 
built; the part nearest the ground 
finished, but that part which soars 
toward heaven, the turrets and 
spires, forever incomplete.— Beecher. 

391. Where There’s a Will There’s 

a Way. 

Stevenson knew a Welsh black¬ 
smith who, at twenty-five, could 
neither read nor write, at which time 
he heard a chapter of “Robinson 
Crusoe” read aloud in a farm kitchen. 
Up to that moment he had sat con¬ 
tent, huddled in his ignorance; but 
he left the kitchen another man. 
There were day-dreams, it appeared, 


divine day-dreams, written and 
printed and bound, and to be bought 
for money and enjoyed at pleasure. 
Down he sat that day, painfully 
learned to read Welsh, and returned 
to borrow the book. It had been lost, 
nor could he find another copy, only 
one in English. Down he sat once 
more, learned English and at length, 
with entire delight, read “Robinson 
Crusoe .”—The Atlantic . 

392. Four Things. 

Four things a man must learn to do. 

If he would make his record true: 

To think without confusion clearly, 

To love his fellow men sincerely, 

To act from honest motives purely, 

To trust in God and heaven securely. 

—Henry van Dyke. 

393. Trust and Try. 

When I used to go to the little 
log schoolhouse, here is a verse of a 
“piece” that used to be spoken on 
Friday afternoons: 

** ‘Can not,’ Edgar, did you say. 

Chase that idle thought away. 

Take your book from off the shelf, 

God helps him who helps himself. 
Trust and try. Trust and try.” 

393a. 'He Saw the Point. 

The following is a story of a Phila¬ 
delphia millionaire who has been dead 
some years. 

A young man came to him one day 
and asked pecuniary aid to start in 
business. 

“Do you drink?” asked the million¬ 
aire. 

“Once in awhile.” 

“Stop it! Stop if for a year, and 
then come and see me.” 

The young man broke off the habit 
at once, and at the end of a year came 
to see the millionaire again. 

“Do you smoke?” asked the suc¬ 
cessful man. 

“Now and then.” 

“Stop it! Stop it for a year, and 
then come and see me again.” 

The young man went home and 
broke away from the habit. It took 



HOW REUTER BEGAN 


97 


him some time, but finally he worried 
through the year, and presented him¬ 
self again. 

“Do you chew?” asked the philan¬ 
thropist. 

“Yes, I do,” was the desperate reply. 

“Stop it! Stop it for a year, then 
come and see me again.” 

The young man stopped chewing, 
but he never went back again. When 
asked by his anxious friends why he 
never called on the millionaire again, 
he replied that he knew exactly what 
the man was driving at. “He’d have 
told me that now I have stopped 
drinking and smoking and chewing, 
I must have saved enough to start 
myself in business. And I have.” 

394. Saved by Service. 

Forbid for me an easy place, 

O, God, in some sequestered nook 
Apart to lie. 

To doze and dream and weaker grow 
Until I die. 

Give me, O Lord, a task so hard 

That all my powers shall taxed be 
To do my best, 

That I may stronger grow in toil, 

For harder service fitted be, 

Until I rest. 

This my reward—development 

From what I am to what Thou art. 

For this I plead; 

Wrought out, by being wrought upon 

By deeds reflexive, done in love, 

For those in need .—Charles C. Earle. 

395. Great Things to Do. 

It is said that Saint Simon, the 
great social reformer, who did so 
much for the laboring classes in 
France, gave his valet orders to 
awake him every morning with the 
words, “Remember, Monsieur Le- 
comte, that you have great things to 
do.” 

Remember, my young friend, that 
you have great things to do. Great 
things will certainly be done in the 
next fifty years; why should you not 
have the honor of doing some of 
them? To be great and do great 
things will require first, a high aim 
and then diligence, earnestness, hard 
7 


work, definite and unremitting toil; 
but you can do what others have 
done and are doing and win the prize 
which is waiting for someone to come 
and take it. 

396. Hearing God’s Voice. 

Two men were in the woods “Did 
you hear that?” said one. “I heard 
nothing.” “There it is again, the 
most beautiful note in the woods, the 
song of the hermit thrush.” The 
other could not hear it at all. Is our 
sense sharpened to hear God’s voice? 
Are we efficient in this?— Rev. R. P. 
Anderson. 

397. How Reuter Regan. 

An interesting story of how Reuter, 
the founder of the famous agency for 
foreign news, began his life work ap¬ 
pears in Mr. Richard Whiteling’s 
book, My Harvest. Reuter went to the 
“Daily News” in the offices of which 
Mr. Whiteling worked for a number 
of years, and to the other leading 
papers, with an offer of copious and 
trust-worthy telegrams from abroad. 

The manager asked for terms. 

“Nothing,” said Reuter genially. 

“Come, come, that will never do! 
What do you expect to get out of it?” 

“The esteem of the British people, 
whom I admire.” 

“Humph! You may send ’em in.” 

They came, they were worth print¬ 
ing, and they duly appeared on those 
extraordinary terms in every im¬ 
portant journal. At the end of the 
year they had become indispensable, 
and then the philanjthrtopist called 
again. 

“You like my little telegrams?” 

“Undoubtedly.” 

“Well, I want to arrange about 
going on with them.” 

“Very much pleased, I am sure.” 

“My terms are a thousand a year.” 

“Whew! That’s a very different 
story—.” 



98 


CASH VALUE OF JOY! 


“Ah !” said the other quietly. “We 
are talking business now.” 

He got his thousand all round. 

398. Importance of Ideal. 

Standing in the presence of Meis- 
sonier’s “1807,” gazing upon the huz¬ 
zaing, charging horsemen, and the 
square-jawed, immovable Napoleon, 
entranced by the genius of the great 
artist, we remember that this painting, 
like all other works of art, has two 
lives; the one in the brain of the art¬ 
ist, the other on the canvas; and upon 
the perfection of the former depends 
the perfection of the latter. What is 
true in art is true in religion. Sym¬ 
metrical and perfected Christian work 
is the child of symmetrical and per¬ 
fected conception.— Rev. L. A. Cran¬ 
dall. 

399. Character and Success. 

The story is told of General Tee, 
that on one occasion he was in con¬ 
sultation with one of his officers in 
regard to the movements of his army. 
A plain farmer’s boy overheard the 
remark that he had decided to march 
upon Gettysburg instead of Harris¬ 
burg. The boy telegraphed the in¬ 
formation to Governor Curtin. The 
governor said, “I would give my right 
hand to know whether that is true or 
not.” A corporal standing near said, 
“Governor, I know that boy; it is 
impossible for him to lie. There is 
not a drop of false blood in his veins.” 
Soon the Union troops were on their 
way to Gettysburg, where the most 
decisive victory of the war was won 
by the Federal forces. Thus character 
gives power and worth to any life, 
however humble. Character gives 
protection, character gives honor, 
character gives blessedness, character 
gives success, as someone has said, 
and there is no other. 

400. Cash Value of Joy! 

Mr. Carnegie is quoted as saying, 
“There is little success where there 


is little laughter. The workman who 
rejoices in his work and laughs away 
his discontent, is the one sure to rise.” 
It requires a full-fledged hypocrite 
to sing even in a minor key 

“The smiles of Joy, the tears of Woe, 

Deceitful shine, deceitful flow— 

There’s nothing true, but Heaven.” 

The best proof of the sentiment is 
the heart of the singer, whose musi¬ 
cal camouflage inspires our hope. 
Our heavenly inheritance is not en¬ 
hanced by our lying about our earthly 
possessions. God surely takes no 
pleasure in hearing us berate our¬ 
selves either, even in private prayer. 
Take a stroll in the woods and hunt 
for the trailing arbutus or a golf 
stick and dig holes in the bunker, but 
smile and sing 

“O earth 1 all bathed in blood and tears, yet 
never 

Hast thou ceased putting forth thy fruit 
and flowers.” 

400a. The Magic of Self-Control. 

Half the giant’s strength is in the 
conviction that he is a giant. The 
strength of a muscle is enhanced a 
hundredfold by the will power. The 
same muscle, when removed from the 
giant’s arm, when divorced from the 
force of the mighty will, can sustain 
but a fraction of the weight it did a 
moment before it was disconnected. 

If you would succeed up to the 
limit of your possibilities, hold con¬ 
stantly to the belief that you are 
success-organized, and that you will 
be successful, no matter what op¬ 
poses. Never allow a shadow of 
doubt to enter your mind that the 
Creator intended you to win in life’s 
battle. Regard every suggestion that 
your life may be a failure, that you 
are not made like those who succeed, 
and that success is not for you, as a 
traitor, and expel it from your mind 
as you would a thief from your house. 

We can’t all be Presidents of the 
United States. Any man is successful 
who does well what comes to his hand, 




THOROUGHLY AWAKE 


99 


and who works to improve himself so 
that he may do it better. The man 
with the ideal, struggling to carry it 
out, is the successful man. Of course, 
there are all grades of ideals, and the 
man with the highest, given the pro¬ 
portionate energy, is the most suc¬ 
cessful. The world makes way for 
that kind of young man. In the con¬ 
templation of a career, business or 
professional, avoid the tendency of 
modern times to make a short cut. 
Stick to the highway. To leave it is 
to wander into many a morass of 
danger and disgrace. The straight 
road has no pitfall. 

401. For Lack of Purpose. 

The world is full of purposeless 
lives—for the reason that they are 
pledged to nothing; they belong to 
the nobodies of history. They are of 
these: 

There is a number of us creep 
Into the world to eat and sleep. 

And know no reason why we’re born 
But only to consume the corn. 

Devour the cattle, flesh, and fish. 

And leave behind an empty dish. 

Such folks are in the church, in bus¬ 
iness, in the whole world. They are 
the parasites of the common body of 
life. 

402. Help to Real Success. 

There is any amount of talk now 

about “success,” and most of it is 
about the kind of success which is 
measured by millions and position, a 
thing of tricks of traffic, merchant 
princes, pride, pomposity and politics. 
It is shoddy and buncombe. The ad¬ 
vice of the phrenologist, the palmist 
and the clairvoyant is sought by young 
men; the divining rod, rabbit’s foot, 
horseshoe, crab’s claw, lucky coin, and 
all sorts of fakir charms are secretly 
possessed with the confidences of 
heathen superstition. The moon, stars, 
seasons and signs, old-wives’ fables 
and dream-books are consulted with 
credulous faith, and it is all a sham. 

A good old pastor can better tell a 


young man how to gain success in life. 
The teaching of a Christian mother 
with her prayer-taught heart is worth 
more than the gabble of these wise 
men who are doling out their receipts 
and charms for a paltry fee and are 
themselves miserable examples of fail¬ 
ures. Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, 
learned by heart, will be worth more 
than a business “college” course. The 
spirit of the gospel in the heart, gov¬ 
erning the life, hedging the path, 
nourishing the soul, teaching, in¬ 
spiring and enriching the N whole life, 
will work out a far more shining ex¬ 
ample of genuine success than any 
godless, worldly-wise, purse-proud 
millionaire ever cttained. Manhood 
is a better measure of success than 
money— Men. 

403. Thoroughly Awake. 

There is a story told of a certain 
tradesman who was in difficulties, and 
went to his rich brother for assistance. 
On his arrival he found him in bed, 
and had to wait some time for his 
appearance. “I am surprised at you 
staying in bed so long,” said the poor 
relation; “I have been up three hours 
at least.” “Yes,” replied the more 
fortunate brother, “but you see when 
I do get up I am thoroughly awake.” 
The hint was more forcible than 
thoughtful, yet it contains a lesson 
which is especially applicable to those 
who are trying to gain for themselves 
a livelihood and a fortune. He who 
has enough sleep has secured one of 
the safeguards against the encroach¬ 
ments of disease and mental prostra¬ 
tion. His nerves are steadier, his in¬ 
tellect is clearer and keener, and the 
business and responsibility of life are 
attended to with a degree of comfort 
and efficiency that are not otherwise 
attainable. 

404. Importance of Purpose. 

Every society and every individual 
ought to have clear views of the end 



100 


BE STRENUOUS 


to be attained by effort, for only so 
shall we be able to walk a curveless 
path between desire and fruition. 

The lamented Prof. Olney, of Ann 
Arbor, used to tell the story of a 
Chinaman who stood by the wayside, 
hacking away at a log. His blows 
fell sometimes here, sometimes there, 
and he never struck twice in the 
same place. A traveller came along, 
and seeing the uncertain hacking, 
said: “Well, John, and what are you 
making?” “Oh! don’t know,” said 
John, “maybe god, maybe—maybe 
bedstead.” I fear that some of us 
are living so uncertainly, so aimlessly, 
that we know not what is the real ob¬ 
ject of our toil; something divine 
and eternal, or our own selfish and 
ignoble ends.— Rev. L. A. Crandall. 

405. Be Alert. 

Briskness is a fine quality in a 
workman. Not that he is to be hung 
on wires and wear himself out with 
nervousness, but his mind and body 
are ever to be responsive. He must 
not be asleep or drowsy, either physi¬ 
cally or mentally. He must be as 
quick to take a hint as to heed a 
command. He must be keen to grasp 
ideas, and his whole being must be 
alert.— C. B. World. 

406. Be Prayerful. 

God is ready to be our assistant in 
our work. He is ready to bring to 
it all the strength and wisdom nec¬ 
essary for the degree of success He 
thinks best for us. He will give them 
to us freely in answer to prayer. He 
loves to have us talk over our work 
with Him. He will advise us and 
console us and encourage us. The 
worker has no recourse that is more 


helpful than frequent and trusting 
prayer.— C. B. World. 

407. Be Serene. 

Modern work under competitive 
conditions is so taxing that serenity 
is a prime requisite for success. We 
must not allow ourselves to be wor¬ 
ried whatever the provocation. 
Worry accomplishes nothing, and often 
prevents our accomplishing anything. 
’Worry always weakens. Worry is 
anti-Christian. It means that we do 
not trust God. It means that we are 
out of harmony with God’s will. Our 
serenity is one good evidence of our 
religion.— C. B. World. 

408. Be Strenuous. 

A worker should keep himself at 
working tension. A flabby body goes 
with a flabby mind. Mental spring 
and physicial spring give momentum 
to our endeavors. The way we hold 
ourselves erect in our chairs or lop 
over in them contributes much to our 
success or failure. Strenuousness 
means efficiency, if a well-trained in¬ 
tellect is added to the strenousness.— 
C. B. World. 

409. Be Honest. 

Work as hard when your employer 
is out of the room as when he is look¬ 
ing at you. If you make a mistake, 
own up; don’t try to hide it. If you 
must lose time at your work, through 
sickness, perhaps, try to make it up 
to your employer; give full measure 
of time as you expect full measure of 
pay. Honesty is as much needed in 
matters of time and painstaking as 
in money matters. Be an honest seller 
of labor.— C, E. World. 




PRESIDENT AND CABINET JOINED IN PRAYER ioi 


V. LINCOLN’S BIRTHDAY 

(Born February 12, 1809.) 


410. President and Cabinet Joined 

in Prayer. 

On the day the news of General 
Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court 
House was received, so an intimate 
friend of President Lincoln relates, 
the Cabinet meeting was held an hour 
earlier than usual. Neither the Presi¬ 
dent nor any member of the Cabinet 
was able, for a time, to give utter¬ 
ance to his feelings. 

At the suggestion of Mr. Lincoln 
all dropped on their knees, and of¬ 
fered in silence and in tears, their 
humble and heartfelt acknowledg¬ 
ments to the Almighty for the tri¬ 
umph he had granted to the National 
cause. 

411. Lincoln’s Gratitude. 

When Lincoln was a country lawyer 
almost in middle life, he received his 
first five-hundred-dollar fee. What 
should he do with such a “bonanza”? 
He decided to buy a quarter-section 
of land to make his dear good step¬ 
mother comfortable in her old age. 
She could live on it and her sons 
could till the soil, and it would hold 
the old woman’s family together. 
When he told a lawyer friend what 
he meant to do with so much money, 
the man remonstrated and advised 
him to give the old lady a life- 
interest in the land in such a way 
that it would revert to him at her 
death. The struggling lawyer was 
indignant. “I shall do no such 
thing!” he said. “It is a poor re¬ 
turn, at best, for all the good wom¬ 
an’s devotion and fidelity to me, and 
there is not going to be any half¬ 
way business about it!” 

412. Man He Was Looking For. 

Judge Kelly, of Pennsylvania, who 
was one of the committee to advise 


Lincoln of his nomination, and who 
was himself a great many feet high, 
had been eyeing Lincoln’s lofty form 
with a mixture of admiration and 
possibly jealousy. 

This had not escaped Lincoln, and 
as he shook hands with the judge he 
inquired, “What is your height?” 

“Six feet three. What is yours, 
Mr. Lincoln?” 

“Six feet four.” 

“Then,” said the judge, “Pennsyl¬ 
vania bows to Illinois. My dear man, 
for years my heart has been aching 
for a President that I could look up 
to, and I’ve at last found him.” 

413. Lincoln Welcomed Girls. 

At a Saturday afternoon reception 
at the White House, many persons 
noticed three little girls, poorly 
dressed, the children of some me¬ 
chanic or laboring man, who had fol¬ 
lowed the visitors into the White 
House to gratify their curiosity. They 
passed around from room to room, 
and were hastening through the re¬ 
ception-room, with some trepidation, 
when the President called to them: 

“Little girls, are you going to pass 
me without shaking hands?” 

Then he bent his tall, awkward form 
down, and shook each little girl 
warmly by the hand. Everybody in 
the apartment was spellbound by the 
incident, so simple in itself. 

414. Ran Away Victorious. 

Three or four days after the battle 
of Bull Run, some gentlemen who 
had been on the field called upon the 
President. 

He inquired very minutely regard¬ 
ing all the circumstances of the affair, 
and, after listening with the utmost 
attention, said, with a touch of 
humor: 



102 


ON WAY TO GETTYSBURG 


“So,” said Lincoln, “it is your no¬ 
tion that we whipped the rebels and 
then ran away from them!” 

415. With Colors Flying. 

In August, 1864, the President 
called for five hundred thousand more 
men. The country was much de¬ 
pressed. The Confederates had, in 
comparatively small force, only a 
short time before, been to the very 
gates of Washington, and returned 
almost unharmed. The presidential 
election was impending. Many thought 
another call for men at such a 
time would injure, if not destroy 
Mr. Lincoln’s chances for reelection. 
A friend said as much to him one 
day, after the President had told him 
of his purpose to make such a call. 
“As to my reelection,” replied Mr. 
Lincoln, “it matters not. We must 
have the men. If I go down, I in¬ 
tend to go, like the Cumberland, with 
my colors flying!” 

416. Pegging Away. 

Being asked one time by an “anx¬ 
ious” visitor as to what he would do 
in certain contingencies—provided the 
rebellion was not subdued after three 
or four years of effort on the part 
of the Government: “Oh,” replied 

the President, “there is no alternative 
but to keep ‘pegging’ away!” 

417. Would Not Recall. 

In conversation with some friends 
at the White House on New Year’s 
evening, 1863, President Lincoln said, 
concerning his Emancipation Procla¬ 
mation : 

“The signature looks a little tremu¬ 
lous, for my hand was tired, but my 
resolution was firm. 

“I told them in September, if they 
did not return to their allegiance, and 
cease murdering our soldiers, I would 
strike at this pillar of their strength. 

“And now the promise shall be kept, 
and not one word of it will I ever 
recall.” 


418. Modesty of Genius. 

The opening of the year i860 found 
Mr. Lincoln’s name freely mentioned 
in connection with the Republican 
nomination for the Presidency. To 
be classed with Seward, Chase, Mc¬ 
Lean, and other celebrities, was 
enough to stimulate any Illinois law¬ 
yer’s pride; but in Mr. Lincoln’s 
case, if it had any such effect, he was 
most artful in concealing it. Now 
and then, some ardent friend, an edi¬ 
tor, for example, would run his name 
up to the masthead, but in all cases he 
discouraged the attempt. 

“In regard to the matter you spoke 
of,” he answered one man who pro¬ 
posed his name, “I beg you will not 
give it a further mention. Seriously, 
I do not think I am fit for the 
Presidency.” 

419. Helped Out the Soldiers. 

Judge Thomas B. Bryan, of Chi¬ 
cago, a member of the Union Defense 
Committee during the War, related 
the following concerning the original 
copy of the Emancipation Proclama¬ 
tion : 

“I asked Mr. Lincoln for the orig¬ 
inal draft of the Proclamation,” said 
Judge Bryan, “for the benefit of our 
Sanitary Fair, in 1865. He sent it 
and accompanied it with a note in 
which he said: 

“ ‘I had intended to keep this paper 
but if it will help the soldiers, I give 
it to you.’ 

“The paper was put up at auction 
and brought $3,000. The buyer after¬ 
ward sold it again to friends of Mr. 
Lincoln at a greatly advanced price, 
and it was placed in the rooms of the 
Chicago Historical Society, where it 
was burned in the great fire of 1871.” 

420. On Way to Gettysburg. 

When Lincoln was on his way to 
the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, 
an old gentleman told him that his 
only son fell on Little Round Top at 



LINCOLN’S DEATH 


103 


Gettysburg, and he was going to look 
at the spot. Mr. Lincoln replied: 
“You have been called on to make a 
terrible sacrifice for the Union, and 
a visit to that spot, I fear, will open 
your wounds afresh. 

“But, oh, my dear sir, if we had 
reached the end of such sacrifices, 
and had nothing left for us to do but 
to place garlands on the graves of 
those who have already fallen, we 
could give thanks even amidst our 
tears; but when I think of the sacri¬ 
fices of life yet to be offered, and 
the hearts and homes yet to be made 
desolate before this dreadful war is 
over, my heart is like lead within me, 
and I feel at times like hiding in deep 
darkness.” 

At one of the stopping places of the 
train, a very beautiful child, having 
a bunch of rosebuds in her hand, was 
lifted up to an open window of the 
President’s car. “Floweth for the 
President.” The President stepped 
to the window, took the rosebuds, 
bent down and kissed the child, say¬ 
ing, “You are a sweet little rosebud 
yourself. I hope your life will open 
into perpetual beauty and goodness.” 

421. A Slow Horse. 

On one occasion when Mr. Lin¬ 
coln was going to attend a political 
convention one of his rivals, a livery¬ 
man, provided him with a slow horse, 
Loping that he would not reach his 
destination in time. Mr. Lincoln got 
there, however, and when he returned 
with the horse he said: “You keep 
this horse for funerals, don’t you?” 
“Oh, no,” replied the liveryman. 
“Well, Pm glad of that, for if you 
did you’d never get a corpse to the 
grave in time for the resurrection.” 

422. God’s Best Gift to Man. 

One of Mr. Lincoln’s notable re¬ 
ligious utterances was his reply to a 
deputation of colored people at Balti¬ 
more who presented him a Bible. He 


said: “In regard to the great Book, 
I have only to say it is the best gift 
which God has ever given man. All 
the good from the Saviour of the 
world is communicated to us through 
this Book. But for this Book we 
could not know right from wrong. 
All those things desirable to man are 
contained in it.” 

423-. Lad Needed Sleep. 

A personal friend of President 
Lincoln is authority for this: 

“I called on him one day in the 
early part of the War. He had just 
written a pardon for a young man 
who had been sentenced to be shot 
for sleeping at his post. He re¬ 
marked as he read it to me: “ T 

could not think of going into eternity 
with the blood of the poor young man 
on my skirts.’ Then he added: 

“ ‘It is not to be wondered at that 
a boy, raised on a farm, probably in 
the habit of going to bed at dark, 
should, when required to watch, fall 
asleep; and I cannot consent to shoot 
him for such an act.’ ” 

424. Lincoln’s Death. 

April 14th, 1865, at the request of 
some friends, President Lincoln oc¬ 
cupied a box in Ford’s Theatre. Dur¬ 
ing the play a man named Booth 
pushed open the door, entered the 
box, drew a revolver and fired a shot 
into Mr. Lincoln’s head. Drawing a 
knife, Booth leaped from the box to 
the stage. A flag draped over the 
front of the box was caught by the 
spur Booth wore, and he was thrown, 
falling heavily in such a way that he 
badly injured his limb. Rising, he 
cried out: “Sic semper tyrannis!” 
As he passed off the stage from the 
side opposite the box he said: “I 
have done it.” Mounting the horse 
held in readiness for him he hastily 
fled from the scene of his cowardly 
murder. The death of Booth and the 



104 


WHY LINCOLN WAS GREAT 


trial of his accessories are well- 
known history. 

425. Could Not Endure Profanity. 

Lincoln could not endure profanity. 
Once, when a visitor used profane 
language in his presence in the White 
House, the President rose and said: 
“I thought Senator C. had sent me a 
gentleman. I was mistaken. There 
is the door, and I wish you good¬ 
night.” 

426. Keynote to Lincoln’s Great¬ 

ness. 

The keynote of Lincoln’s greatness 
according to Dr. O. S. Marden, 
quoted by one Congressman, is given 
in his own words: “I am not bound 
to win, but I am bound to be true. 
I am not bound to succeed, but I am 
bound to live up to what light I 
have.” 

427. Why Lincoln was Great. 

Abraham Lincoln was great be¬ 
cause he was steadfast, patient, far¬ 
sighted, honest, true. Combine these 
qualities into one all comprehending 
word. He was great because he was 
good. Tennyson was right in his 
j udgment: 

“ * * * it seems to me 

'Tis only noble to be good.” 

His patriotism was the most tremen¬ 
dous single characteristic of his pub¬ 
lic life. The thought that filled his 
soul was the preservation of the 
union. Daniel Webster’s great cry 
in the United States Senate had be¬ 
come the legend to which Mr. Lin¬ 
coln’s life responded. “The union 
now and forever, one and insepara¬ 
ble.” 

By all these qualities and charac¬ 
teristics he showed himself to be the 
handiwork of God. Out of the hills 
of Kentucky God quarried him, and 
hewed him into form for a pillar in 
his own temple, and at its base kneel 
now and will forever the representa¬ 


tives of the race to which he brought 
the possibilities of manhood.— Rev. 
R. S. Holmes. 

428. Lincoln and Temperance. 

“The liquor traffic is a cancer in 
society, eating out its vitals and 
threatening destruction, and all at¬ 
tempts to regulate it will not only 
prove abortive but will aggravate the 
evil. No, there must be no more at¬ 
tempts to regulate the cancer; it must 
be eradicated. Not a root must be 
left behind, for until this is done, all 
classes must continue in danger of 
becoming victims of strong drink.” 

429. Lincoln a Man of Mercy. 

Lincoln’s heart was as tender as 
ever beat in a human breast. He 
shrank from the confirmation of a 
sentence of death, as if it was a 
murder by his own hand. “They say 
that I will destroy all discipline and 
am cruel to the army, when I will not 
let them shoot a soldier now and 
then,” he said. “But I cannot see it. 
If God wanted me to see it, He 
would let me know it; and until He 
does, I shall go on pardoning and 
being cruel to the end.” An old 
friend called by appointment, and 
found him with a pile of records of 
courtsmartial before him for ap¬ 
proval. “Go away, Swett!” he ex¬ 
claimed with intense impatience. “To¬ 
morrow is butchering day, and I will 
not be interrupted until I have found 
excuses for saving the lives of these 
poor fellows!” 

Rev. Phillips Brooks, in closing his 
memorable address on Lincoln, said, 
“May God make us worthy of the 
memory of Abraham Lincoln!” 

430- “A Pair of Shirt Sleeves.” 

Such careers as Lincoln’s are the 
glory of the American continent. If 
Rome told with pride that her dic¬ 
tators came from the plowtail, Amer¬ 
ica may record the answer of the 



LINCOLN ON WOMLN 


i°5 


President who, ' when asked what 
would be his coat-of-arms, proudly 
replies, “A pair of shirt sleeves.” The 
answer indicated a noble sense of the 
dignity of labor, rebuked the vanities 
of feudalism and expressed the con¬ 
viction that men should be honored 
as man and not according to the acci¬ 
dent of birth. 

431. Washed Out in Blood. 

This was the reply made by Lin¬ 
coln to an application for the pardon 
of a soldier who had shown himself 
brave in war, had been severely 
wounded, but afterward deserted: 

“Did you say he was once badly 
wounded?” 

“Then, as the Scriptures say that 
in the shedding of blood is the remis¬ 
sion of sins, I guess we’ll have to let 
him off this time.” 

432. The Matter with the World 

To-day. 

Not long before Mr. Lincoln be¬ 
came prominent in the nation, he was 
one day walking along the sidewalk 
in Springfield, leading two of his sons, 
one by each hand, and both were 
crying loudly. A gentleman who met 
them asked Mr. Lincoln what was 
the matter with the boys. He prompt¬ 
ly replied: “Just what’s the matter 
with the whole world. I have three 
nuts, and each boy wants two!” 

433. Lincoln on Women. 

I am not accustomed to the use of 
language of eulogy; I have never 
studied the art of paying compli¬ 
ments to women; but I must say, 
that if all that has been said by 
orators and poets since the creation 
of the world in praise of women were 
applied to the women of America, it 
would not do them justice for their 
conduct during this war. I will close 
by saying, God bless the women of 
America. — Lincoln: Remarks on 
Closing Sanitary Fair in Washington, 
March 18, 1864. 


434. His Temperance Record. 

During the Washingtonian move¬ 
ment Mr. Lincoln took an active in¬ 
terest in the temperance reform and 
made addresses in its behalf. One 
speech made in the Second Presby- 
terial Church of Springfield, Febru¬ 
ary 22, 1842, on the anniversary of 
the Washingtonian Society, has be¬ 
come memorable. It is an earnest 
and eloquent plea for moral suasion 
and shows much of the spirit of the 
man who taught “malice toward none 
and charity for all.” 

He plead for the continuance of the 
work of reforming drunkards and 
also for the efforts of those who were 
not immediate sufferers. He urged 
the duty of people who did not drink 
to take the pledge and give every 
moral support to the habitual drunk¬ 
ards who would try to reform and 
said: “Let us make it as unfashion¬ 
able to withhold our names from the 
temperance pledge as for husbands 
to wear their wives’ bonnets to 
church.” To those who would say, 
“We are no drunkards and we shall 
not acknowledge ourselves such by 
joining a drunkards’ society,” he re¬ 
plied, “Surely no Christian will ad¬ 
here to this objection.” He then 
followed this with an eloquent plea 
from the example of Jesus who came 
in the form of sinful man to die an 
ignominious death, that in like man¬ 
ner if needs be, men should suffer to 
help their weak and erring fellow- 
creatures. 

435. Lincoln a Church Attendant. 

In the First Presbyterian Church 
of Springfield, Ill., is preserved the 
pew which Lincoln occupied while he 
lived in that city. In the New York 
Avenue Presbyterian Church, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C., there remains, among 
the new oaken seats, the old pew of 
dark wood which Lincoln used dur¬ 
ing his Presidency. He attended pub¬ 
lic worship with great regularity. 



io6 


THE RELIGION OF LINCOLN 


436. The Religion of Lincoln. 

All the chief biographers of Lin¬ 
coln declare him to have been pro¬ 
foundly religious. In 1842' he wrote 
to his friend Speed, referring to his 
own troubled heart. “Whatever He 
designs He will do for me yet. Stand 
still and see the salvation of the Lord, 
is my text just now.” Shortly after 
he decided to settle permanently in 
Springfield, his father fell danger¬ 
ously ill, Lincoln, in writing to his 
half brother, said: “I sincerely hope 
father may recover his health, but, 
at all events, tell him to remember 
to call upon and confide in our great 
and good and merciful Maker, who 
will not turn away from him in his 
extremity. He notes the fall of a 
sparrow and numbers the hairs of 
our heads, and He will not forget the 
dying man who puts trust in Him.”— 
Rev. Calvin Dill Wilson , D.D. 

437. Lincoln’s One Rule. 

Lincoln’s one rule of life was the 
Christian rule of doing right. He 
was great because he was natural and 
sincere. He was controlled by reali¬ 
ties. In his boyhood days he became 
acquainted with the Bible and the old 
rule of justice. In his dealings with 
men in commercial, social and pro¬ 
fessional life he adhered strictly to 
that rule. When a boy he borrowed 
a book from a neighbor. Rain beat 
into the opening of the log-house 
where he lived and the book was 
injured. Promptly he reported to the 
owner, and he was permitted to work 
for him until the book was paid for. 
In his first visit to New Orleans he 
saw the shame and injustice of slav¬ 
ery. Then it was he said, “If I ever 
get a chance to strike at the institu¬ 
tion of slavery, I will strike it hard!” 

438. Billy Sunday’s Lincoln Illus¬ 

tration. 

During the Civil War conditions 
became such that Abraham Lincoln 


issued an order that none of the sol¬ 
diers would be granted a furlough. 
A while after that order, one soldier 
got word that his wife was dying. 
His superiors couldn’t grant him the 
furlough, but they did let him go and 
try to see the President. But when 
he reached the President’s office a 
guard outside stopped him and told 
him it was impossible to see the great 
man. The soldier went away dis¬ 
couraged, his eyes filled with tears. 

Outside a little boy saw him. The 
boy was Tad Lincoln. The little boy 
said, “What’s the matter, Mister Sol¬ 
dier?” The youngster had to ask 
several times before the soldier heard 
and answered him. And when the 
man told the child why he mourned, 
the little fellow said: “Come with 
me: I’ll take you to see him—he’s 
my papa.” The boy got the soldier 
past the guard at the door and Lin¬ 
coln signed the order allowing him 
to go to the bedside of his dying wife. 

That story is perfect. Here is sin, 
the guard at the door, and you can’t 
get by. Sin is the barrier. Twenty- 
nine years ago, in a Chicago mission 
Jesus Christ came to me. I could 
not get past the door, but He took me 
in.— W. A. Sunday. 

439. Lincoln’s Sermon. 

Mr. Lincoln often preached what he 
called “a sermon to his boys.” It 
was “Don’t drink, don’t gamble, don’t 
smoke, don’t lie, don’t cheat. Love 
your fellowmen, love God, love truth, 
love virtue, and be happy.” 

He taught temperance by example 
and by precept, and on several oc¬ 
casions suggested to young men “not 
to put their enemy in their mouths to 
steal away their brains.” While vis¬ 
iting General Grant’s army on the 
Potomac, an officer asked Mr. Lin¬ 
coln to drink a glass of champagne, 
saying: “Mr. President, that is a 
certain cure for seasickness.” Mr. 
Lincoln replied that he “had seen 



LINCOLN’S SUPERB FAITH 


107 


many fellows seasick ashore from 
drinking that vile stuff.” 

440. Good to Take. 

Speaking of Lincoln’s attitude to¬ 
ward temperance, he is known to have 
lectured on the subject and to have 
prepared a pledge which he circulated 
among boys. When he decorated a 
boy, Cleophas Breckenridge, with a 
temperance badge, as he was signing 
the pledge, he said to him, “Sonny, 
that is the best thing you will ever 
take.” 

441. Lincoln’s Superb Faith. 

As illustrative of Mr. Lincoln’s 
superb faith, I will give an instance 
that I have never seen in print. In 
the largest room in the White House, 
on the second floor, were gathered a 
number of officers of the army, then 
of prominence by reason of the com¬ 
mands they held in the field; many 
civilians who held no office, but who 
had come from the North to see 
Washington and pay their respects 
to Mr. Lincoln, and perhaps get con¬ 
tracts essential to running the Gov¬ 
ernment; and a few members of 
Congress. 

At first it appeared more like a 
large reception, where, after shaking 
hands, people stayed to chat with one 
another. Not far from Mr. Lin¬ 
coln, a prominent Senator, whom we 

may call Senator D-, in a strong, 

deep voice remarked: “I believe that, 
if we could only do right as a peo¬ 
ple, the Lord would help us and we 
should have a decided success in this 
terrible struggle.” Mr. Lincoln, hear¬ 
ing the remark of the Senator, with 
his clear, shrill enunciation, cried out: 
“My faith is greater than yours.” 

Everybody turned and looked at the 
President, who was head and shoul¬ 
ders above all there assembled. The 
Senator who had spoken then said, 
“How so, Mr. Lincoln?” 

“I am confident,” said he, “that 


God will make us do sufficiently right 
to give us the victory .”—General O. 
O. Howard. 

441a. Lincoln’s Religious Experi¬ 
ence. 

Hezekiah Butterworth, in writing 
of Abraham Lincoln as a Christian, 
said: 

“One day Mr. Lincoln met an army 
nurse, a woman of true Christian 
character. ‘I have a question to ask 
you,’ he said, in effect. ‘What is a 
religious experience?’ 

“It was the most important ques¬ 
tion that one can ask in the world. 

“The woman answered, ‘It is to 
feel one’s need of divine help and to 
cast oneself on God in perfect trust 
and know his presence,’ or words to 
that effect. 

“ ‘Then I have it,’ he answered. ‘I 
have it, and I intend to make a public 
profession of it.’ 

“About the same time, or later, he 
said to Harriet Beecher Stowe: 
‘When I entered the White House I 
was not a Christian. Now I am a 
Christian.’ 

“In this second period of divine 
trust he made a vow to God to free 
the slaves by a proclamation. 

“At a Cabinet meeting he said: 
‘The time has come to issue a Procla¬ 
mation of Emancipation. The people 
are ready for it, and I promised God 
on my knees I would do it.’ ” 

442. Sorry for the Horses. 

When President Lincoln heard of 
the Confederate raid at Fairfax, in 
which a brigadier-general and a num¬ 
ber of valuable horses were captured, 
he gravely observed: 

“Well, I am sorry for the horses.” 

“Sorry for the horses, Mr. Presi¬ 
dent!” exclaimed the Secretary of 
War, raising his spectacles and 
throwing himself back in his chair in 
astonishment. 



io8 


HONESTY AS A LAWYER 


“Yes,” replied Mr. Lincoln, “I can 
make a brigadier-general in five min¬ 
utes, but it is not easy to replace a 
hundred and ten horses.” 

443. Made Speeches When a Boy. 

When Lincoln was but a barefoot 
boy he would often make political 
speeches to the boys in the neighbor¬ 
hood, and when he had reached young 
manhood and was engaged in the 
labor of chopping wood or splitting 
rails he continued this practice of 
speech-making with only the stumps 
and surrounding trees for hearers. 

At the age of seventeen he had at¬ 
tained his full height of six feet four 
inches and it was at this time he en¬ 
gaged as a ferry boatman on the 
Ohio River at thirty-seven cents a 
day. 

That he was seriously beginning to 
think of public affairs even at this 
early age is shown by the fact that 
about this time he wrote a composi¬ 
tion on the American Government, 
urging the necessity for preserving 
the Constitution and perpetuating the 
Union. A Rockport lawyer, by the 
name of Pickert, who read this com¬ 
position, declared that “the world 
couldn’t beat it.” 

444. A Youthful Poet. 

Some records of Lincoln’s school¬ 
boy days are still left us. One is a 
book made and bound by Lincoln him¬ 
self, in which he had written the 
table of weights and measures, and 
the sums to be worked out therefrom. 
This was his arithmetic, for he was 
too poor to own a printed copy. 

On one of the pages of this quaint 
book he had written these four lines 
of schoolboy doggerel: 

“Abraham Lincoln, 

His Hand and Pen, 

He Will be Good, 

But God knows when.” 

445. Believed He was a Christian. 

Mr. Lincoln was much impressed 
with the devotion and earnestness of 


purpose manifested by a certain lady 
of the “Christian Commission” dur¬ 
ing the War, and on one occasion, 
after she had discharged the object 
of her visit, said to her: 

“Madam, I have formed a high 
opinion of your Christian character, 
and now, as we are alone, I have a 
mind to ask you to give me in brief 
your idea of what constitutes a true 
religious experience.” 

The lady replied at some length, 
stating that, in her judgment, it con¬ 
sisted of a conviction of one’s own 
sinfulness and weakness, and a per¬ 
sonal need of the Saviour for strength 
and support; that views of mere doc¬ 
trine might and would differ, but 
when one was really brought to feel 
his need of divine help, and to seek 
the aid of the Holy Spirit for 
strength and guidance, it was satis¬ 
factory evidence of his having been 
born again. This was the substance 
of her reply. 

When she had concluded Mr. Lin¬ 
coln was very thoughtful for a few 
moments. He at length said, very 
earnestly: “If what you have told 
me is really a correct view of this 
great subject I think I can say with 
sincerity that I hope I am a Chris¬ 
tian. I had lived,” he continued, 
“until my boy Willie died without 
fully realizing these things. That 
blow overwhelmed me. It showed 
me my weakness as I had never felt 
it before, and if I can take what 
you have stated as a test I think I 
can safely say that I know some¬ 
thing of that change of which you 
speak; and I will further add that 
it has been my intention for some 
time, at a suitable opportunity, to 
make a public religious profession.” 

446. Honesty as a Lawyer. 

Lincoln was once associate counsel 
for a defendant in a murder case. He 
listened to the testimony given by wit¬ 
ness after witness against his client, 



LINCOLN’S LAST WRITTEN WORDS 


109 


until his honest heart could stand it no 
longer; then, turning to his associate, 
he said: “The man is guilty; you 
defend him—I can’t,” and when his 
associate secured a verdict of acquittal, 
Lincoln refused to share the fee to the 
extent of one cent. 

Lincoln would never advise clients 
to enter into unwise or unjust law¬ 
suits, always preferring to refuse a re¬ 
tainer rather than be a party to a case 
which did not commend itself to his 
sense of justice. 

447. His Practical Wisdom. 

A simple remark one of the party 
might make would remind Mr. Lincoln 
of an apropos story. 

Secretary of the Treasury Chase 
happened to remark: “Oh, I am so 
sorry that I did not write a letter to 
Mr. So-and-so before I left home 1 ” 

President Lincoln promptly re¬ 
sponded : 

“Chase, never regret what you don’t 
write; it is what you do write that 
you are often called upon to feel sorry 
for.” 

448. Lincoln’s LastWritten 

Words. 

As the President and Mrs. Lincoln 
were leaving the White House, a few 
minutes before eight o’clock, on the 
evening of April 14th, 1865, Lincoln 
wrote this note: 

“Allow Mr. Ashmun and friend to 
come to see me at nine o’clock a. m., 
to-morrow, April 15, 1865.” 

449. A Greenback Legend. 

At a Cabinet meeting once the ad¬ 
visability of putting a legend on green¬ 
backs similar to the In God We 
Trust legend on the silver coins was 
discussed, and the President was 
asked what his view was. He re¬ 
plied: “If you are going to put a 
legend on the greenback, I would 
suggest that of Peter and Paul: ‘Sil¬ 


ver and gold we have not, but what 
we have we’ll give you.’ ” 

450. Religious Humility. 

Mr. Lincoln once remarked to Mr. 
Noah Brooks, one of his most inti¬ 
mate personal friends: “I should be 
the most presumptuous blockhead upon 
this footstool if I for one day thought 
that I could discharge the duties which 
have come upon me, since I came to 
this place, without the aid and enlight¬ 
enment of One who is stronger and 
wiser than all others.” 

He said on another occasion: “I 
am very sure that if I do not go away 
from here a wiser man, I shall go 
away a better man, from having 
learned here what a very poor sort 
of a man I am.” 

451. Boy Cared For. 

President Lincoln one day noticed 
a small, pale, delicate-looking boy, 
about thirteen years old, among the 
number in the White House ante¬ 
chamber. 

The President saw him standing 
there, looking so feeble and faint, and 
said: “Come here, my boy, and tell 
me what you want.” 

The boy advanced, placed his hand 
on the arm of the President’s chair, 
and, with a bowed head and timid 
accents, said: “Mr. President, I have 
been a drummer boy in a regiment 
for two years, and my colonel got 
angry with me and turned me off. 
I was taken sick and have been a 
long time in the hospital.” 

The President discovered that the 
boy had no home, no father—he had 
died in the army—no mother. 

“I have no father, no mother, no 
brothers, no sisters, and,” bursting 
into tears, “no friends—nobody cares 
for me.” 

Lincoln’s eyes filled with tears, and 
the boy’s heart was soon made glad 
by a request to certain officials “to 
care for this poor boy.” 



IIO 


PROCLAMATION IN HIS POCKET 


452. Proclamation in His Pocket. 

Professor Jonathan Baldwin Tur¬ 
ner was one of the few men to whom 
Mr. Lincoln confided his intention to 
issue the Proclamation of Emancipa¬ 
tion. 

Mr. Lincoln told his Illinois friend 
of the visit of a delegation to him 
who claimed to have a message from 
God that the War would not be suc¬ 
cessful without the freeing of the 
negroes, to whom Mr. Lincoln re¬ 
plied: “Is it not a little strange that 
he should tell this to you, who have 
so little to do with it, and should not 
have told me, who has a great deal 
to do with it?” 

At the same time he informed Pro¬ 
fessor Turner he had his Proclama¬ 
tion in his pocket. 

453. Last Acts of Mercy. 

During the afternoon preceding his 
assassination the President signed a 
pardon for a soldier sentenced to be 
shot for desertion, remarking as he 
did so, “Well, I think the boy can 
do us more good above ground than 
under ground.” 

He also approved an application 
for the discharge, on taking the oath 
of allegiance, of a rebel prisoner, in 
whose petition he wrote, “Let it be 
done.” 

This act of mercy was his last offi¬ 
cial order. 

454. Simple, Practical Humanity. 

An instance of yourtg- Lincoln’s 
practical humanity at an early period 
of his life is recorded in this way: 

One evening, while returning from 
a “raising” in his wild neighborhood, 
with a number of companions, he dis¬ 
covered a stray horse, with saddle and 
bridle upon him. The horse was rec¬ 
ognized as belonging to a man who 
was accustomed to get drunk, and it 
was suspected at once that he was not 
far off. A short search only was 
necessary to confirm the belief. 


The poor drunkard was found in a 
perfectly helpless condition, upon the 
chilly ground. Abraham’s compan¬ 
ions urged the cowardly policy of 
leaving him to his fate, but young 
Lincoln would not hear to the propo¬ 
sition. 

At his request, the miserable sot 
was lifted on his shoulders, and he 
actually carried him eighty rods to 
the nearest house. 

Sending word to his father that he 
should not be back that night, with 
the reason for his absence, he attended 
and nursed the man until the morn¬ 
ing, and had the pleasure of believing 
that he had saved his life. 

455. Sentinel Obeyed Orders. 

A slight variation of the traditional 
sentry story is related by C. C. Buel. 
It was a cold, blusterous winter night. 
Says Mr. Buel: 

“Mr. Lincoln emerged from the 
front door, his lank figure bent over 
as he drew tightly about his shoulders 
the shawl which he employed for such 
protection; for he was on his way 
to the War Department, at the west 
corner of the grounds, where in times 
of battle he was wont to get the 
midnight dispatches from the field. 
As the blast struck him he thought of 
the numbness of the pacing sentry, 
and, turning to him, said: ‘Young 
man, you’ve got a cold job to-night; 
step inside, and stand guard there.’ 

“ ‘My orders keep me out here/ 
the soldier replied. 

“ ‘Yes,’ said the President, in his 
argumentative tone; ‘but your duty 
can be performed just as well inside 
as out here, and you’ll oblige me by 
going in.’ 

“ ‘I have been stationed outside/ 
the soldier answered, and resumed his 
beat. 

“ ‘Hold on there!’ said Mr. Lin¬ 
coln, as he turned back again; ‘it 
occurs to me that I am Commander- 



DAYS OF GLADNESS PAST 


hi 


in-Chief of the army, and I order you 
to go inside!” 

456. When “Abe” Came In. 

When “Abe” was fourteen years of 
age, John Hanks journeyed from 
Kentucky to Indiana and lived with 
the Lincolns. He described “Abe’s” 
habits thus: “When Lincoln and I 
returned to the house from work, he 
would go to the cupboard, snatch a 
piece of corn-bread, take down a book, 
sit down on a chair, cock his legs up 
as high as his head, and read. He 
and I worked barefooted, grubbed it, 
plowed, mowed, cradled together; 
plowed corn, gathered it, and shucked 
corn. ‘Abe’ read constantly when he 
had an opportunity.” 

457. Grant Held On. 

{Dispatch to General Grant, 
August 17 th, 1864.) 

“I have seen your dispatch express¬ 
ing your unwillingness to break your 
hold where you are. Neither am I 
willing. Hold on with a bulldog 
grip” 

458. Days of Gladness Past. 

After the war was well on, a pa¬ 
triot woman of the West urged Presi¬ 
dent Lincoln to make hospitals at the 
North where the sick from the Army 
of the Mississippi could revive in a 
more bracing air. Among other rea¬ 
sons, she said, feelingly: “If you 
grant my petition, you will be glad as 
long as you live.” 

With a look of sadness impossible 
to describe, the President said: 

“I shall never be glad any more.” 

459. Avoided Appearance of Evil. 

Frank W. Tracy, President of the 
First National Bank of Springfield, 
tells a story illustrative of two traits 
in Mr. Lincoln’s character. Shortly 
after the National banking law went 
into effect the First National of 
Springfield was chartered, and Mr. 


Tracy wrote to Mr. Lincoln, with 
whom he was well acquainted in a 
business way, and tendered him an 
opportunity to subscribe for some of 
the stock. 

In reply to the kindly offer Mr. 
Lincoln wrote, thanking Mr. Tracy, 
but at the same time declining to sub¬ 
scribe. He said he recognized that 
stock in a good National bank would 
be a good thing to hold, but he did 
not feel that he ought, as President, 
profit from a law which had been 
passed under his administration. 

“He seemed to wish to avoid even 
the appearance of evil,” said Mr. 
Tracy in telling of the incident. “And 
so the act proved both his unvarying 
probity and his unfailing policy.” 

460. Could Be Arbitrary. 

Lincoln could be arbitrary when 
occasion required. This is the letter 
he wrote to one of the department 
heads: 

“You must make a job of it, and 
provide a place for the bearer of this, 
Elias Wampole. Make a job of it 
with the collector and have it done. 
You can d oit for me and you must.” 

There was no delay in taking action 
in this matter. Mr. Wampole, or 
“Eli,” as he was thereafter known, 
“got there.” 

461. How He Got Blackstone. 

The following story was told by 
Mr. Lincoln to Mr. A. J. Conant, 
the artist, who painted his portrait 
in Springfield in i860: 

“One day a man who was migrating 
to the West drove up in front of my 
store with a wagon which contained 
his family and household plunder. 
He asked me if I would buy an old 
barrel for which he had no room in 
his wagon, and which he said con¬ 
tained nothing of special value. I 
did not want it, but to oblige him 
I bought it and paid him, I think, 
half a dollar for it. Without further 



112 


TALKED TO NEGROES AT RICHMOND 


examination, I put it away in the store 
and forgot all about it. Some time 
after, in overhauling things, I came 
upon the barrel, and, emptying it upon 
the floor to see what it contained, I 
found at the bottom of the rubbish 
a complete edition of Blackstone’s 
Commentaries. I began to read those 
famous works, and I had plenty of 
time; for during the long summer 
days when the farmers were busy with 
their crops, my customers were few 
and far between. The more I read”— 
this he said with unusual emphasis 
—“the more intensely interested I be¬ 
came. Never in my whole life was 
my mind so thoroughly absorbed. .1 
read until I devoured them.” 

462. How Stanton Got into Lin¬ 
coln’s Cabinet. 

President Lincoln, well aware of 
Stanton’s unfriendliness, was sur¬ 
prised when Secretary of the Treas¬ 
ury Chase told him that Stanton had 
expressed the opinion that the arrest 
of the Confederate Commissioners, 
Mason and Slidell, was legal and jus¬ 
tified by international law. The Presi¬ 
dent asked Secretary Chase to invite 
Stanton to the White House, and 
Stanton came. Mr. Lincoln thanked 
him for the opinion he had expressed, 
and asked him to put it in writing. 

Stanton complied, the President 
read it carefully, and, after putting 
it away, astounded Stanton by offer¬ 
ing him the portfolio of War. Stan¬ 
ton was a Democrat, had been one of 
the President’s most persistent vili- 
fiers, and could not realize, at first, 
that Lincoln meant what he said. He 
managed, however, to say: 

“I am both surprised and embar¬ 
rassed, Mr. President, and would ask 
a couple of days to consider this most 
important matter.” 

Lincoln fully understood what was 
going on in Stanton’s mind, and then 
said: 

“This is a very critical period in 


the life of the nation, Mr. Stanton, 
as you are well aware, and I well 
know you are as much interested in 
sustaining the government as myself 
or any other man. This is no time 
to consider mere party issues. The 
life of the nation is in danger. I 
need the best counsellors around me. 
I have every confidence in your judg¬ 
ment, and have concluded to ask you 
to become one of my counsellors. The 
office of the Secretary of War will 
soon be vacant, and I am anxious to 
have you take Mr. Cameron’s place.” 

Stanton decided to accept. 

463. Lincoln Wasn’t Buying Nomi¬ 

nations. 

To a party who wished to be em¬ 
powered to negotiate reward for 
promises of influence in the Chicago 
Convention, i860, Mr. Lincoln re¬ 
plied : 

“No, gentlemen; I have not asked 
the nomination, and I will not now 
buy it with pledges. 

“If I am nominated and elected, 
I shall not go into the Presidency as 
the tool of this man or that man, or 
as the property of any factor or 
clique.” 

464. Talked to Negroes at Rich¬ 

mond. 

The President walked through the 
streets of Richmond—without a guard 
except a few seamen—in company 
with his son “Tad,” and Admiral 
Porter, on April 4, 1865, the day fol¬ 
lowing the evacuation of the city. 
Colored people gathered about him 
on every side, eager to see and thank 
their liberator. Mr. Lincoln addressed 
the following remarks to one of these 
gatherings: “My poor friends, you 
are free—free as air. You can cast 
off the name of slave and trample 
upon it; it will come to you no more. 
Liberty is your birthright. God gave 
it to you as he gave it to others, and 
it is a sin that you have been de- 



FIRST VISIT TO NEW YORK 


prived of it for so many years. But 
you must try to deserve this price¬ 
less boon. Let the world see that 
you merit it, and are able to maintain 
it by your good work. Don’t let your 
joy carry you into excesses; learn 
the laws, and obey them. Obey God’s 
commandments, and thank him for 
giving you liberty for to him you owe 
all things. There, now, let me pass 
on; I have but little time to spare. 
I want to see the Capitol, and must 
return at once to Washington to se¬ 
cure to you that liberty which you 
seem to prize so highly.” 

465. A Lincoln Pun. 

“You can’t do anything with them 
Southern fellows,” the old man at 
the table was saying. 

“If they get whipped, they’ll retreat 
to them Southern swamps and bayous 
along with the fishes and crocodiles. 
You haven’t got the fish-nets made 
that’ll catch ’em.” 

“Look here, old gentleman,” re¬ 
marked President Lincoln, who was 
sitting alongside, “we’ve got just the 
nets for traitors, in the bayous or any¬ 
where.” 

“Hey! What nets?” 

“Bayou-nets!” and “Uncle Abraham 
pointed his joke with his fork, spear¬ 
ing a fishball savagely. 

466. Lincoln Saved a Life. 

One day during the Black Hawk 
War a poor old Indian came into the 
camp with a paper of safe conduct 
from General Lewis Cass in his pos¬ 
session. The members of Lincoln’s 
company were greatly exasperated by 
late Indian barbarities, among them 
the horrible murder of a number of 
women and children, and were about 
to kill him; they said the safe-con¬ 
duct paper was a forgery, and ap¬ 
proached the old savage with muskets 
cocked to shoot him. 

Lincoln rushed forward, struck up 
the weapons with his hands, and 


113 


standing in front of the victim, de¬ 
clared to the Indian that he should 
not be killed. It was with great 
difficulty that the men could be kept 
from their purpose, but the courage 
and firmness of Lincoln thwarted 
them. 

Lincoln was physically one of the 
bravest of men, as his company dis¬ 
covered. 

467. “He’s the Best of Us.” 

Secretary of State Seward did not 
appreciate President Lincoln’s ability 
until he had been associated with him 
for quite a time, but he was awakened 
to a full realization of the greatness 
of the Chief Executive “all of a 
sudden.” 

Having submitted “Some Thoughts 
for the President’s Consideration”—a 
lengthy paper intended as an outline 
of the policy, both domestic and for¬ 
eign, the Administration should pur¬ 
sue—he was not more surprised at the 
magnanimity and kindness of Presi¬ 
dent Lincoln’s reply than the thor¬ 
ough mastery of the subject dis¬ 
played by the President. 

A few months later, when the Sec¬ 
retary had begun to understand Mr. 
Lincoln, he was quick and generous 
to acknowledge his power. 

“Executive force and vigor are rare 
qualities,” he wrote to Mrs. Seward. 
“The President is the best of us.” 

468. First Visit to New York. 

Later in the year Mr. Lincoln also 
spoke in Kansas, where he was re¬ 
ceived with great enthusiasm, and in 
February of the following year he 
made his great speech in Cooper Un¬ 
ion, New York, to an immense gather¬ 
ing, presided over by William Cullen 
Bryant, the poet, who was then editor 
of the New York Evening Post. 
There was great curiosity to see the 
Western rail-splitter who had so lately 
met the famous “Little Giant” of the 
West in debate, and Mr. Lincoln’s 



HENRY WARD BEECHER’S EULOGY 


114 


speech was listened to by many of 
the ablest men in the East. 

This speech won for him many sup¬ 
porters in tin Fiesidential campaign 
that followed, for his hearers at once 
recognized his wonderiul ability to 
deal with the questions then upper¬ 
most in the public mind. 

469. No False Pride in Lincoln. 

General McClellan had little or no 
conception of the greatness of Abra¬ 
ham Lincoln. As time went on, he 
began to show plainly his contempt 
of the President, frequently allowing 
him to wait in the ante-room of his 
house while he transacted business 
with others. This discourtesy was so 
open that McClellan’s staff noticed it, 
and newspaper correspondents com¬ 
mented on it. The President was too 
keen not to see the situation, but he 
was strong enough to ignore it. It 
was a battle he wanted from Mc¬ 
Clellan, not deference. 

“I will hold McClellan’s horse, if 
he will only bring us success,” he said 
one day. 

470. Henry Ward Beecher’s 

Eulogy. 

No final words of that great life 
can be more fitly spoken than the eu¬ 
logy pronounced by Henry Ward 
Beecher: 

“And now the martyr is moving in 
triumphal march, mightier than when 
alive. The nation rises up at ever^ 
stage of his coming. Cities and states 
are his pall-bearers and the cannon 
speaks the hours in solemn progres¬ 
sion. Dead, dead, dead, he yet speak- 
eth. 

“Is Washington dead? Is Hamp- 
don dead? Is any man that was ever 
fit to live dead? Disenthralled of 
flesh, risen to the unobstructed sphere 
where passion never comes, he begins 
his illimitable work. His life is now 
grafted upon the infinite, and will be 
fruitful as no earthly life can be. 


“Pass on, thou that hast overcome. 
Ye people, behold the martyr whose 
blood, as so many articulate words, 
pleads for fidelity, for law, for lib¬ 
erty.” 

471. Got the Worst of It. 

When Lincoln was a young lawyer 
in Illinois, he and a certain judge once 
got to bantering one another about 
trading horses; and it was agreed 
that the next morning at nine o’clock 
they should make a trade, the horse 
to be unseen up to that hour, and no 
backing out, under a forfeiture of $25. 
At the hour appointed, the judge came 
up, leading the sorriest-looking speci¬ 
men of a horse ever seen in those 
parts. In a few minutes Mr. Lincoln 
was seen approaching with a wooden 
saw-horse upon his shoulders. 

Great were the shouts and laughter 
of the crowd, and both were greatly 
increased when Lincoln, on surveying 
the judge’s animal, set down his saw¬ 
horse, and exclaimed: 

“Well, Judge, this is the first time 
I ever got the worst of it in a horse 
trade.” 

472. His “Glass Hack.” 

President Lincoln had not been in 

the White House very long before 
Mrs. Lincoln became seized with the 
idea that a fine new barouche was 
about the proper thing for “the first 
lady in the land.” The President did 
not care particularly about it one way 
or the other, and told his wife to 
order whatever she wanted. Lincoln 
forgot all about the new vehicle, and 
was overcome with astonishment one 
afternoon when, having acceded to 
Mrs. Lincoln’s desire to go driving, 
he found a beautiful barouche stand¬ 
ing in front of the door of the White 
House. His wife watched him with 
an amused smile, but the only remark 
he made was, “Well, Mary, that’s 
about the slickest ‘glass hack’ in town, 
isn’t it?” 



THE LINCOLN PEW 


ii 5 


473. Likely to Do. 

An officer, having had some trou¬ 
ble with General Sherman, being very 
angry, presented himself before Mr. 
Lincoln, who was visiting the camp, 
and said, “Mr. President, I have a 
cause of grievance. This morning I 
went to General Sherman and he 
threatened to shoot me.” “Threat¬ 
ened to shoot you?” asked Mr. Lin¬ 
coln. “Well (in a stage whisper), if 
I were you I would keep away from 
him; if he threatens to shoot, I 
would not trust him, for I believe he 
would do it.” 

474. Lincoln and Truth. 

Lincoln would have agreed most 
positively with Carlyle’s dictum, “Can 
there be a more horrible object in 
existence than an eloquent man not 
speaking the truth ?” 

Those words of the great English 
essayist were spoken by Alonzo Roths¬ 
child of Abraham Lincoln, who once 
said to his partner in a criminal trial: 
“If you can say anything for the 
man, do it; I can’t. If I attempt it, 
the jury will see that I think he is 
guilty, and convict him, of course.” 

Because of actions like this one of 
Lincoln’s biographers says of him: 

“It was morally impossible for Lin¬ 
coln to argue dishonestly. He could 
no more do it than he could steal. It 
was the same thing in essence to 
despoil a man of his property by 
larceny as by illogical and flagitious 
reasoning.” 

To Lincoln a constructive lie was 
just as black as a pointblank lie. And 
why not?— Rev. John T. Farts , D.D. 

475. Lincoln. 

A log cabin, rude and rough— 

This was the house and home enough 
For one small boy; there in the chimney 
place 

With glowing face 

The eager young eyes learned to trace 

Staunch old tales of staunch old men; 

In the firelight there and then 
The soul of I/incoln grew— 

And no one knew! 

Only the great and bitter strife 


Of later days brought into life 

Great deeds that blossomed in the gloom 

Of that dim shadowy firelit room. 

—Annette Wynne. 

476. The Lincoln Pew. 

In the New York Avenue, Presby¬ 
terian Church, Washington, D. C., 
stands the old pew in which President 
Lincoln was to be found nearly every 
Sabbath throughout the Civil War. 

In the many changes of the famous 
old edifice this pew has never been 
disturbed. All the other pews are 
new, modern and of light wood, mak¬ 
ing the dark, discolored Lincoln pew 
all the more conspicuous. The church 
long ago had a silver tablet, suitably 
engraved, placed on the pew-end, 
marking it as that of the martyred 
President. The pew is set aside now 
for the pastor’s use. 

A few years ago a few interesting 
verses were neatly framed and at¬ 
tached to the pew, in which Rev. 
Lyman Whitney Allen, a minister in 
England, pays a glowing and beauti¬ 
ful tribute to Lincoln and reflects the 
impression the pew makes upon 
strangers. 

Dr. Wallace Radcliffe, the pastor of 
the New York Avenue Chuch, on one 
of his summer tours found the verses 
in Dinard, France .—Alfred C. Marks. 

477. Stories Better Than Doctors. 

A gentleman, visiting a hospital at 
Washington, heard an occupant of 
one of the beds laughing and talking 
about the President, who had been 
there a short time before and glad¬ 
dened the wounded with some of his 
stories. The soldier seemed in such 
good spirits that the gentleman in¬ 
quired : 

“You must be very slightly 
wounded?” 

“Yes,” replied the brave fellow, 
“very slightly—I have only lost one 
leg, but I’d be glad enough to lose 
the other, if I could hear some more 
of ‘Old Abe’s’ stories.” 



ii6 


EDUCATION MAKES READY 


VI. EDUCATION DAY 

(Day of Prayer for Schools and Colleges. Third Thursday 
in February.) 


478. Where Education Should Fo¬ 

cus. 

The moral element is the main 
thing in education. Of what real use 
can that culture be which is as cold 
as an iceberg and as mathematical as 
the multiplication table? Moral edu¬ 
cation is not an aspect of education, 
but the integrating center of the 
whole .—Biblical Recorder. 

479. The Day Before. 

General Foch is reported to have 
frequently said: “The battle is won 
the day before. ,, By this he meant 
that the condition of the soldiers the 
day before frequently decides how 
they will fight on the day of battle. 
The Government, the Y. M. C. A. 
and other organizations did fine work 
in making and keeping our soldiers 
fit “the day before,” and it is for 
this reason largely that our men proved 
such splendid soldiers. This “day 
before” preparation is just what is 
needed here at home. In the home, 
the church, the sabbath school, the day 
school, the college, wherever the 
young are trained, there is opportun¬ 
ity to do fine work in fitting them for 
the battles of life. It will depend 
largely upon the physical, mental and 
spiritual training which they receive 
whether they shall be victorious or go 
down to defeat. 

480. Value of Schools. 

No part of our national defenses 
are more important than our schools. 
No agency to-day is more efficient in 
transforming the untoward conditions 
brought about by the incoming tide of 
immigration than our public school. 
Our greatest security for the future 
requires a larger degree of attention 
to the moral and spiritual development 


of our youth. The best influences 
should be cast about them, especially 
during the period when they are in 
the preparatory school and the col¬ 
lege. In these institutions are being 
trained our future leaders. They 
must meet the perils of the coming 
years; and the best part of their 
equipment will be love of truth and 
sincerity, and fidelity to conscience. 
Let us honor and strengthen our edu¬ 
cational institutions because of the 
noble work they have done and are 
doing .—The Christian Advocate. 

481. Education of Women. 

When a chief of the Cherokees 
was asked why the Cherokees are so 
much in advance of the other tribes, 
he replied: “Because we have taken 
care to educate our women as well 
as the men .”—Home Missionary 
Monthly. 

482. Education Makes Ready. 

The other day a distinguished and 
venerable painter, in answer to the 
question whether he waited for the 
happy mood, said: “Never. I always 
keep at work, and when the impulse 
comes, it finds me ready and obedi¬ 
ent.” Ready and obedient! How 
many times it happens that a young 
man starting out in some profession 
feels that for the present he will give 
himself freedom from hard work, but 
that when the critical moment comes 
and his hand is on the door of op¬ 
portunity, then he will make himself 
ready! A man’s hand is never on the 
door of opportunity unless it is a hand 
already made strong to push back 
that door, and enter in and take pos¬ 
session. Opportunity is never used 
save by the man who is ready and 
obedient. True education is a process 



TRUE EDUCATION 


ii 7 


that makes one ready and always in 
the attitude of obedience. 

483. Prepare the Soil. 

When a little lad was told by his 
mother that it was God who made the 
beautiful flowers grow in their neigh¬ 
bor’s yard, he asked: “Why doesn’t 
He make some grow in ours?” “We 
haven’t prepared the soil, Sonny,” was 
the reply. “As it is evidently God’s 
way to work through these intellects 
of ours,” says Frances Ridley Haver- 
gal, “we have no more right to ex¬ 
pect him to use a mind which we are 
wilfully neglecting and taking no 
pains whatever to fit for his use than 
I should have to expect you to write 
a beautiful inscription with my pen, 
if I would not take the trouble to 
wipe or mend it,” 

484. What Education Does. 

A good education will teach quick¬ 
ness and accuracy. Sometimes a very 
slight superiority in any one of the 
senses, says Dr. Eliot, becomes the 
basis of success in life. The father 
and son who made wonderful glass 
models of flowers in the Museum of 
Harvard University inherited from 
generations of glass-blowers, and de¬ 
veloped in their own persons, an ex¬ 
quisite skill of eye and hand which 
gave them unique success in that ar¬ 
tistic craftsmanship. The skill of 
most mechanics depends on similar 
accuracy and quickness. 

485. Accumulated Knowledge but 

Missed Wisdom. 

An education is not for making 
money, but for living life. This is the 
view of the writer of the Proverbs. 
It is meant to draw us out of igno¬ 
rance into wisdom in the conduct of 
life; and a person is hardly educated 
who has accumulated knowledge but 
has missed wisdom. 


486. True Education. 

Every one knows that the word 
educate comes from the Eatin, “e” 
and “duco,” to draw out, and refers 
to the drawing out of the powers of 
the mind. To be educated does not 
mean that we assimilate a lot of 
knowledge, but that the mind is 
trained or developed so that it can 
do its own thinking. Facts are placed 
before the mind for the purpose of 
having it test them and assimilate 
them and use them in practical life. 
An education that Is good must deal 
with the whole mind and not merely 
with a section of it. The Russian 
Jew, for instance, who is taught in 
the synagogical school, knows a great 
deal of Jewish tradition; but he is not 
educated, for there are vast tracts of 
his mental powers that are left un¬ 
developed. So a purely secular edu¬ 
cation is not a good education, for the 
spirit, the soul, is left barren. Edu¬ 
cation should inform and draw out 
and exercise the whole man. 

487. A Guaranteed Job. 

All able-bodied schoolboys ought to 
be at some useful work in the sum¬ 
mer holidays. But their schooling 
should not be allowed to suffer for the 
sake of their jobs. Such a course is 
penny-wise, pound-foolish. The pay 
may look good to-day, but not after 
to-morrow. 

To-day’s schooling is the guaranty 
of to-morrow’s job. 

488. In Proportion to Cost. 

An education pays in proportion to 
its cost. If it costs nothing in self- 
denial, industry and purpose, and if 
it is paid for only from a father’s 
purse, and in no other way, then its 
profits must be small indeed. Every 
student may well ask, “How much 
is my education costing me, in labor, 
pains and faithfulness ?” 



n8 


SCHOOL AND OPPORTUNITY 


489. “Finished Education. 

A very brief sketch of a well- 
known Englishman covers his educa¬ 
tion with a sentence. He is described 
as having studied “at night-schools 
and still learning.” 

There is a marked contrast here 
with the familiar term, “a finishing 
school,” and references to finishing 
one’s education. To be sure, the word 
“finish” is not meant to be taken 
too literally. Yet often it tells the ex¬ 
act truth; in the person’s own 
thought, and in fact, the education 
ended when he left the hands of oth¬ 
ers, who had tried to convey some 
knowledge into his mind, and probably 
with indifferent success. 

The test of the learner is not in the 
class-room or the examination-paper, 
but in the love of study that he carries 
into later life, and the thirst for 
knowledge that never leaves him, but 
rather grows with the years. 

490. Helps Us to Know. 

There came into my study not long 
since a lady from one of our refined 
and noted families of Philadelphia. 
Had that woman, while a wealthy 
girl, secured an education such as a 
practical school gives, she would not 
have been weeping in my office be¬ 
cause she must now earn a living at 
sewing. But while she was wealthy 
and her father held a high position in 
Philadelphia, she did not think she 
would ever need. But she said, “If 
I only knew of something I could do. 
If I only knew.” The college stands 
in the place of a friend who comes 
and helps such to know.— Rev. Rus¬ 
sel H. Conwell, D.D. 

491. School and Opportunity. 

School life spells opportunity. Rob¬ 
ert Speer, in “Men Who Overcame,” 
tells the story of the Y. M. C. A. 
secretary, Horace W. Rose, who 
missed no opportunity to win a fellow 
student to the Christian life. He had 


a consuming ambition to “leave a 
trail of light behind him, and he did 
it.” He led over six hundred men 
into Bible study as a result of per¬ 
sonal interviews. He led twenty-five 
men to go as foreign missionaries. 
He was “the biggest man with the 
biggest smile.” In the few years he 
was spared to labor after he gradu¬ 
ated he was on fire with zeal to win 
college men to Christ. He wrote to a 
friend, urging him to work hard, 
“I pray that through you God will 
burn a path of light in the Eastern 
colleges.” To the young men in 
Cornell University he said, “You fel¬ 
lows must intend to do a lot of per¬ 
sonal work when you get at it, you 
are putting it off so long .”—Herald 
and Presbyter. 

492. Avoiding Temptations. 

One of the exquisite wonders of the 
sea is called the opelet. It is about 
as large as the German aster, looking, 
in fact, very much like one. Imagine 
a very large double aster, with a great 
many long petals of a light green 
color, glossy as satin, and each one 
tipped with rose color. These lovely 
petals do not lie quietly in their places, 
but wave away in the water, while the 
opelet clings to the rocks. How inno¬ 
cent and lovely it looks on its rocky 
bed! Who would suspect that it would 
eat anything grosser than dew and sun¬ 
light? But those beautiful, waving 
arms, as you call them have use be¬ 
side looking pretty. They have to 
provide for a large, open mouth, 
which is hidden down deep among 
them—so deep that one can scarcely 
find it. Well do they perform their 
duty, for the instant a foolish little 
fish touches one of the rosy tips he 
is struck with poison as fatal to him 
as lightning. He immediately be¬ 
comes numb, and in a moment stops 
struggling, and then the other arms 
wrap themselves around him, and he 
is drawn into the huge, greedy mouth, 



RELIGION IN SCHOOL 


119 


and is seen no more. Then the lovely 
arms unclose and wave again in the 
water to grasp another victim. The 
allurements of sin are to be compared 
with the opelets of the sea. Young 
men can keep out of their reach if 
they try to do so.— Dr. Wilbur F. 
Crafts. 

493. A Worthy Reign. 

It is told of a monarch who, soon 
after he was crowned, became aware 
of a plot to assassinate him, that he 
said: “I shall reign worthily while 
I am permitted to reign. If I am 
an emperor only for half an hour, in 
that half-hour I will be every inch an 
emperor.” No one can aim too high 
in the Christian life. One may have 
a purely worldly ambition far beyond 
one’s powers of achievement, but none 
ever yet had too high an ideal of 
Christian perfection, no matter if they 
failed to attain it. There can be no 
high achievements without the highest 
ideals.— Men. 

494. Religion in School. 

A student went to the room of a 
friend to speak with him on personal 
religion. His courage failed and the 
conversation drifted naturally to ath¬ 
letics and current topics, but it was 
evident that the visitor’s heart was not 
in the talk. “Harry, what’s the mat¬ 
ter with you? You don’t seem to be 
yourself. What’s on your mind?” 
“Well, Fred, to tell you the truth 
you’re on my mind. I came over here 
to have a straight talk with you and 
all my sand gave out.” “You came 
over to talk with me about being a 
Christian, didn’t you, and I’ve been 
wondering since the beginning of the 
term why you didn’t say something 
about it before.” Then after half an 
hour’s conversation the two boys 
knelt side by side and promised God 
they would walk the Christian life 
together. Two things were accom¬ 
plished. The angels rejoiced over 


Fred’s surrender, and Harry experi¬ 
enced a quickening of his own spirit¬ 
ual nature such as he had not known 
before. Fred stands for scores of 
men who only need a warm-hearted 
friend to bring them over the line.— 
Men. 

495. Know it Well. 

I am often humiliated when I hear 
education spoken of and urged from 
mere mercenary motives. Education 
does not command the highest com¬ 
mercial value—yet looking at it from 
the highest standpoint, it is invalu¬ 
able. If a man spends an hour a day 
for 300 days, in reading, at the end of 
that time he has read thirty volumes 
of 300 pages each, which is in itself 
quite a library. Elihu Burritt mastered 
eighteen languages and twenty-two 
dialects between the age of forty and 
sixty years. This was done by study 
in the evenings, after having worked 
all day at the blacksmith’s forge, 
The greatest star discoverer of our 
day is a man in Chicago, who has 
spent his days as a court reporter, 
but his nights as a student of the 
heavens. The man who loves knowl¬ 
edge and who desires to broaden him¬ 
self will find some opportunity for 
self-improvement. In the beginning 
of my ministry an old preacher said 
to me: “Young man, if I stood where 
you do, I would make up my mind 
to know something and know it well.” 
His words have rung in my ears ever 
since. A man’s life is measured by 
his knowledge. Christ said: “This is 
eternal life, to know God.” To know 
something—to know God. Any man 
can make himself at home in a realm 
of knowledge that seems to lie out¬ 
side of his environment, if he will 
only resolve to do so. The man who 
is simply a money-getter does not, to 
my mind, represent the highest type of 
manhood.— Dr. G. W. White. 



120 


ADVANTAGE OF EDUCATION 


496. Christian College. 

The influence of the Christian col¬ 
lege in the life of the church is tre¬ 
mendous. The badge of the age is an 
interrogation point. Even in the 
church the power to start inquiry 
seems often to be looked upon as a 
part of worship. The door must not 
be shut in the face of inquiry, or 
doubt will come piling in at the win¬ 
dows. If “the age of doubt” is not 
to eventuate in an age of denial, the 
Christian college must guide this 
spirit of inquiry to true answers. The 
home, the church and the nation need 
the Christian college .—Chancellor 
McDowell. 

497. Man or Donkey. 

When a boy I sat beside a farmer, 
one day, at the Commencement exer¬ 
cises of Illinois College while the 
services were being held out of doors. 
His son was among the graduates 
that day, and had just acquitted him¬ 
self most creditably in an oration, 
when I observed to the father that a 
college education was a great bless¬ 
ing to a young man. “Yes,” said he. 
“You see a feller is born to be either 
a man or a donkey, and a college edu¬ 
cation just helps him to find out a 
little sooner or later which he’s go¬ 
ing to be .”—Frederick W. Burnham. 

498. Scope of Education. 

A president of one of our colleges 
has said that education should be six¬ 
fold in its scope and character. “It 
should give the student a body strong 
and supple; an intellect able to think; 
a heart to love; a conscience for 
righteousness; an imagination to ap¬ 
preciate the beautiful, and a will 
strong to choose.” 

499. Finding Your Mission. 

Education ought to help one to an 
early and clear conception of his mis¬ 
sion. One of the prime purposes of 


the smoky, industrious little tugs 
which ply their craft upon the waters 
of our great seaports is to lead out, 
from their docks and moorings, the 
great ocean steamers to the place 
where, beyond the breakwater and the 
land-locked bays, they feel the deep 
swell of the ocean tide, and there, 
loosing the hawser, point the prow 
toward the far-going voyage and the 
distant destination, and plunge out 
into the deep. So the first mission of 
education is to lead out the young 
life from the locked and sheltered 
harbor of home and parental control 
to the place of self-direction. To 
the ocean of deep water, tides, winds 
and storms one must come, and it is 
the business of his education to see 
that he comes thither prepared for 
what is before him.— Burnham. 

500. Cramming. 

If the years spent in pursuit of edu¬ 
cation increase the farmer’s chances 
of getting satisfaction out of life, 
they are profitably spent, even though 
they leave him somewhat behind in 
the race for dollars. For dollars and 
contentment are not synonymous 
terms, and the man who can combine 
few dollars with intelligent content¬ 
ment is obviously better off than the 
man who, having more dollars than he 
can use, finds that the only employ¬ 
ment which is really congenial to him 
is accumulating more. 

It is more profitable to spend some 
time in youth in cramming the mind 
with knowledge not immediately use¬ 
ful, than to be compelled for lack of 
other resources to spend one’s old 
age cramming one’s pockets with mon¬ 
ey that one does not want .—Saturday 
Evening Post. 

501. Advantage of Education. 

The educated man has greater abil¬ 
ity to grasp new truth and facts. The 
uneducated man is more likely to be 
unbalanced by new schemes and isms. 



WEALTH BY THOUGHT 


121 


The educated man has a broader mind 
and is more open to the opinion of 
others. 

What special advantage does the 
college-trained man gain over the self- 
made man, so-called? The educated 
man has the advantage of being able 
to think more systematically. He has 
at his control a mass of facts, and he 
is trained to see the fallacy in false 
schemes.— D. L. Moody. 

502. A Good Ready. 

An old Greek officer counseled the 
generals on the eve of an engage¬ 
ment that “the secret of victory is in 
getting a good ready.” That is the 
secret of victory not only in warfare, 
but in every life struggle.— J. F. Car- 
son, D.D. 

50 3 . The Christian College. 

The aim of the Christian college is 
not reached by turning out students 
who are merely believers in Chris¬ 
tianity, who consent calmly and in¬ 
differently to its creed. It aims to 
fill its students with the spirit of St. 
Paul, to make them alive in the serv¬ 
ice of Christ, and to fire them with 
the enthusiasm of humanity. 

There are special reasons to-day 
which show that the part taken by the 
Christian college in our national life 
is growing important and strategic. 
America, already the richest of na¬ 
tions, is to become far richer. The 
number of the wealthy will be in¬ 
creased, and millions will have most 
of the comforts and even luxuries, 
which the very rich now enjoy. The 
tendency of opulence is to enervate. 
Christian character needs to be hard¬ 
ened and fortified against luxury. And 
a “manhood that can stand money” is 
what the Christian college aims to 
produce. 

Our civilization rushes to a vast and 
fatal plunge unless God is enthroned 
in the educated minds of our people. 
Education without religion is archi¬ 


tecture without foundation and roof. 
— Barrows. 

504. Teaching. 

Teaching has three objects; (1) 
The communication of knowledge. 
(2) The stimulating of the activity 
of the student. (3) The development 
of character. 

505. Wealth by Thought. 

Men make wealth by their thoughts 
as well as by their hands. A Morse 
dreams of telegraphic communication, 
and his thoughts materialize in hun¬ 
dreds of millions of value in telegraph 
stocks. A Stevenson dreams of loco¬ 
motive traction, and we have thou¬ 
sands of millions of dollars in rail¬ 
roads. A Bell conceives of speak¬ 
ing by a wire, and we have millions 
upon millions of wealth in telephones 
created by his thought. What, do you 
ask, does thought make money? Yes, 
I say, the thoughts of these and oth¬ 
er thinkers create actual money val¬ 
ues. So you see that the thoughts of 
men make wealth as well as the work 
of their hands.— Lansing. 

506. Longing for Education. 

A little negro slave boy on a South¬ 
ern plantation, one single garment, 
a coarse flaxen shirt, his only cover¬ 
ing: he had never slept in a bed— 
not he; who his father was he never 
knew, nor his own age. He once 
went as far as the schoolhouse door 
with his little mistress, to carry her 
books, and had the feeling that “to 
get into a schoolhouse and study 
would be about the same as getting 
into Paradise.” 

After the emancipation proclamation 
a boy of ten or twelve years of age, 
working in the salt mines of West 
Virginia, but with an intense longing 
for an education; a little later attend¬ 
ing night school. Again we see him 
on his way to Hampton Institute, a 
distance of five hundred miles, with 



122 


SPIRITUAL value oe culture 


scarcely any money to buy clothing 
or pay his fare; sometimes walking 
and sometimes begging rides, sleeping 
under the sidewalk or in any shelter 
he might find, to save his money; 
reaching Hampton, at last, with just 
twenty-five cents in his pocket and 
looking like a worthless tramp. 

Later we see him as a student, doing 
janitor work to help pay his way. 
Here, for the first time, he ate from 
a table-cloth, learned the use of nap¬ 
kins, tooth brush and the bath, also 
of sheets; the first night he slept 
under them both, and the next night 
on top of both. At length, graduating 
with honor, he becomes a teacher; is 
called back to deliver a post-graduate 
address, is tendered a reception in 
Richmond at which two thousand col¬ 
ored people were present, in a hall not 
far from the place where he slept 
under the sidewalk. Beloved and re¬ 
spected by both white and black was 
Booker T. Washington, president of 
Tuskegee Institute. 

507. The Spiritual Value of Cul¬ 
ture. 

When John Richard Green spent an 
evening with Gladstone he says of him: 
“I felt proud of my leader, because 
he was so noble of soul.” Let us so 
live and act here that we may keep 
the soul of this nation alive and mas¬ 
terly. This is the supreme care for 
which God invested you with life 
and sex and peculiar facilities. Oth¬ 
ers are seeking lower ends; some in 
anarchy would destroy all. But we 
go on from these cloistered retreats 
to maintain the spirit of a mighty peo¬ 
ple, to give it force, direction, cour¬ 
age, purity and Godward aim. And 
this can be a common pursuit until 
the manhood and womanhood of 
America, free without license, and 
fearless without pride, and tender 
without maudlin weakness, becomes 
the revelation and crown of culture in 


spiritual realms.— Rev. S. Parkes Cad- 
man, D.D. 

508. Real Education. 

A Christian education is supposed 
to give one a better control over na¬ 
ture and men by refining our sense of 
justice and equity, as the skilled jur¬ 
ist differentiates between these two 
terms, and to enable one to see and 
appreciate the real value in persons 
and things. Coming short of this, 
our education is a complete failure. 

509. The Water Mark of Principle. 

The instructors of the young write 
not only knowledge but principle in 
the inner life, as the water mark is 
inlaid in paper. This is more im¬ 
portant than writing one’s name in an 
autograph album. There is as much 
in it as genius can purpose and ef¬ 
fectually realize.— Rev. A. W. Lews. 

510. It Pays to go to School. 

The table prepared by the Massa¬ 
chusetts State Board of Education 
shows the weekly earnings of chil¬ 
dren who left school at fourteen un¬ 
til the end of their twenty-fifth year. 

Those who left school at fourteen 
began at four dollars a week, and at 
the end of the twenty-fifth year were 
receiving $12.75 a week. Those from 
the high school began at $10 a week, 
and at twenty-five were receiving $3^ 
a week. 

The total earnings of the elementary 
school boy in th eeight years were 
$5,722.50; while those of the high- 
school boy in the eight year were 
$ 7 ) 377 - 50 -—Educational Review 

511. Advantages of Education. 

A college education may not fit a 
young man with special knowledge 
for any given business, but four or 
five years of mental broadening will 
develop his intelligence and his capac¬ 
ity to learn and to adapt himself to 
the needs of business. That is one 



EDUCATED EOR USEEULNESS 


123 


advantage. Another is the culture 
that education brings, the interests to 
which it introduces us. 

512. True Education. 

The word educate is from a Latin 
word which means to draw out. 
Therefore to be truly educated is to 
be fully or truly drawn out or de¬ 
veloped. We often hear a man spoken 
of as being well trained, or as one 
who has a well-rounded education. If 
we were to examine his education 
closely, perhaps we would find him 
to be a man trained in mathematics, 
in the natural and physical sciences, 
and have a fair knowledge of the an¬ 
cient and modern languages, and yet 
be lacking in one of the most impor¬ 
tant features of a true education. To 
be truly educated one must be trained 
in body, mind and heart. In fact, no 
one can say his education is complete 
whose mind has not been trained to 
think; whose heart has not been 
trained to love righteousness, and 
whose body has not been made strong. 
We should not train one of our fac¬ 
ulties and neglect one or all of the 
others, but we should train .or de¬ 
velop them in the same proportion. 
Man is sometimes compared to a 
knife of many blades; he knows how 
to open one, and only one. The oth¬ 
ers become useless from disuse. He 
is educated who makes a tool of every 
faculty. It is not what one eats but 
what he digests that makes him 
strong, and not what one gains but 
what he saves that makes him rich 
so it is not what one reads or hears, 
but what he remembers and applies 
that makes him learned. 

A good education is the surest of all 
investments. Lands and money may 
take wings and slip away, but an 
education is as lasting and unfailing 
as the constant flow of the great Ni¬ 
agara, a bank whose dividend is ever¬ 
lasting. How wise, then, to secure as 


near as possible a complete and last¬ 
ing education.— H. C. Shoulders. 

513. Education Rounds Out Knowl¬ 

edge. 

Students are sometimes impatient of 
studies that seem to have no relation 
to their future life. “What,” asks the 
budding engineer, “what use have I 
for Greek or Latin or botany?” None, 
perhaps, if engineering were the 
whole of life. But it is not. It may 
be the part of life we shall need for 
paying expenses. But the man that 
knows engineering alone is not edu¬ 
cated. A good education rounds out 
our interests and our knowledge. 

514. Train the Conscience. 

Mere intellectual education may be 
mere cunning, a sharp tool which a 
bad man can use as deftly as a good 
man. Conscience must be trained and 
enthroned as the crown of man, or he 
does not reach full personality, and 
conscience finds its only true and 
worthy goal in God. Education runs 
up into and loses itself in religion, 
and man is a complete personality 
only as he attains to the fullness of 
the stature of Christ .—Presbyterian 
Banner. 

515. Educated for Usefulness. 

A writer in the Daily News, not 
long ago, speaking of a noble lord 
who had just died, said that, although 
he was a man to be regarded with a 
sort of wonder, he did not appear to 
deserve the glowing eulogy which had 
been lavished upon him by some of 
his friends. He was what is called 
a prodigy of learning, but while 
he knew everything he accomplished 
nothing. He wrote nothing, nor does 
he seem in any other way to have ben¬ 
efited the world by the enormous 
knowledge he spent his life in ac¬ 
quiring and loaded his memory in re¬ 
taining. Except an abnormal faculty 
for reading books, he did not display 



124 


EDUCATION FOR LIFE 


any original intellectual faculty, what¬ 
ever. *He did nothing but read, and, 
seemingly, remember what he read, 
while also exhibiting to his intimates 
a genial and lovable personality— 
His exhaustive knowledge of history 
did not in the least qualify him for 
any place in practical statesmanship 
....When we ask what he did it for, 
it is a figure of a miser which arises 
before the imagination. 

Now an education helps us to make 
the most of what we are, and what 
we have, and what we know. In¬ 
formation and instruction may only 
make a kind of dead sea of us. We 
may, like this noble lord, take in 
knowledge but never use it. No self¬ 
ish man can be an educated man; he 
may be a scholar, but education is 
more than that. What we use we 
have and are; and to be able to use 
what we have, to be useful and help¬ 
ful in life, to be well informed and 
intelligently active, is to be educated. 
— Rev. James Learmount. 

516. Leadership. 

About two per cent, of American 
boys go to college, and from this two 
per cent, come seventy-seven per cent, 
of the nation’s leaders in all walks of 
life. 

517. Thoughts on Education. 

Education is a better safeguard of 
liberty than a standing army.— Ed¬ 
ward Everett. 

Exclude religion from education 
and you have no foundation upon 
which to build moral character.— 
Eliot. 

Let our ministers and men of in¬ 
fluence be uneducated or half edu¬ 
cated, and errors and heresies will 
spring up like thorns and briers in 
a neglected field.— Tyler. 

518. What Is an Education? 

Education means to “educe/’ to 
bring out what the pupil already has 


and knows. The word is derived 
from the Latin educere—to lead out. 
I would like you to remember that a 
thorough education means the culti¬ 
vation, the bringing out of the phys¬ 
ical, mental and moral powers. Edu¬ 
cation is to train you in the use of all 
your faculties and powers. You may 
forget much that you learn at school; 
but if you learn to “think,” to use 
your faculties, you may achieve suc¬ 
cess in whatever calling you choose. 
Make the best use of your chances. 
The aim of education is first to fit 
you for the varied duties of life, to 
earn your living; to help in the gov¬ 
ernment of the country; to add to 
your happiness; and, above all, to 
help you to be a good and useful 
man or woman. 

In this matter of education do not 
forget that you are soul as well as 
body. See to it that you cultivate 
and bring out every day the finer 
and better qualities of the mind and 
heart. The farmer cultivates the soil 
and removes hindrances, prepares the 
way for the harvest, and that is just 
what your schooldays do for you.— 
Rev. James Learmount. 

519. Messages from Great Educa¬ 

tors. 

Education forms the man.— Gay. 

The alphabet is conquering the 
world.— G. W. Curtis. 

Love is the greatest of educators.— 
Mrs. Osgood. 

Hew the block off, and get out the 
man.— Pope. 

Teach the children! It is painting 
in fresco.— Emerson. 

Education is the cheap defense of 
nations.— Burke. 

Education is the apprenticeship of 
life.— Emerson. 

520. Education for Life. 

A good education will teach us to 
look beyond utility to the beauty of 
things. One man sees wood in the 



WAX TO RECEIVE: MARBLE TO RETAIN 125 


forest, so many cubit feet, and thinks 
of what it will bring in the market. 
Another man sees beauty in the for¬ 
est and hears the voices of the silence. 
When a trout leaps out of the water 
after a fly one man thinks of his 
supper and how it would feel to have 
that fish cooked on the table before 
him. Another man enters into sym¬ 
pathy with the strange life under 
water and rejoices in the joy of the 
fish. Education has missed the mark 
if it does not lead us into sympathy 
with the beauty and mystery of life. 

521. “Wax to Receive: Marble to 
Retain. ,, 

Children are at the mercy of the 
families into which they are born: 
they are helpless. Everyone knows 
how helpless their bodies are. Their 
little lives depend entirely upon the 
care they receive from others. But 
not everyone realizes how spiritually 
helpless they are. We have all heard 
the saying, “Give me a child until he 
is seven, and I care not who has him 
after that,” but we have not pondered 
the saying, nor kept it in our hearts, 
nor governed ourselves by it. 

The years from birth to seven or 
eight years, are of an importance that 
cannot be calculated. Through all 
these fateful years the family is the 
children’s world. For the first four 
or five years at least it is their whole 
world. They are bom into the fam¬ 
ily. It is in the family that they 
gain their first precious and unforget- 
able store of knowledge. It is the 
model and pattern of the lives in the 
family which they follow with help¬ 
less simplicity. The family life is 
the mold into which their habits of 
thought and emotion and action, all 
warm and fluid, are poured. The 
love and trust which little children 
so brightly, so innocently, so com¬ 
pletely, repose in their fathers and 
mothers, unless it is wickedly broken 
away and destroyed, fixes the great¬ 


est possible responsibility upon fa¬ 
thers and mothers. Religious educa¬ 
tion is begun during these years— 
begun in a way which can never be 
undone—and it is begun in the fam¬ 
ily. 

The great curiosity of little chil¬ 
dren, with “What?” and “Why?” 
and “How?” continually upon their 
lips, is God’s open door into their 
lives for the entrance of His truth 
about the world and themselves and 
Himself. Their imitativeness—how 
can they help imitating the ways of 
those upon whom they are depend¬ 
ent?—is the capacity God has given 
them for following Jesus as they see 
others follow Him. But how shall 
they follow Jesus if they have no 
human follower to imitate? They are 
so plastic during these years that they 
are truly “wax to receive; marble to 
retain.” What character will be im¬ 
pressed on this living wax? What 
marks will the marble retain? 

During these years the helpless lit¬ 
tle children are marked and stamped 
forever. During these years their 
hearts and minds and consciences are 
bent toward God or away from Him. 
This Jesus realized and he indig¬ 
nantly rebuked the stupidity of his 
grown-up disciples who would have 
brushed the little children aside as 
not worthy of his attention when He 
said, “Suffer the little children to 
come unto Me; forbid them not: 
for to such belongeth the kingdom of 
God .”—Religious Education in the 
Family. 

522. On the Right Track. 

Character is formed, says Goethe, 
in the stream of life. That stream is 
sometimes foul, but even so it bears 
us onward. JVIany °I us get the chief 
part of our education in the school of 
life after we leave school. In fact, 
school and college are but the begin¬ 
ning of education. They place us on 
the right track, point out the way, 



126 


DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION 


drill us in right habits, show us the 
proper methods. But what one gets 
out of school or college is purely an 
individual affair. 

523. Education and Character. 

Horace Mann, the great educator, 
would not allow a person of poor 
character to graduate from Antioch 
College, of which he was president, 
however fine a scholar the person 
might be. Mr. Mann held that an 
educated rascal was just so much the 
worse rascal, and he would not help 
to inflict such a peril upon the com¬ 
munity. 

524. The Complete Man. 

If man were only a body, athletics 
would be the whole of education. If 
he were only a mind, mental culture 
would be his summum bonum. But 
if he has a body, mind and soul, then 
education is the cultivation, develop¬ 
ment and efficiency of all three. 

The purpose of Christian education 
is the perfecting of humanity. 

525. Education More than Voca¬ 

tional. 

In speaking of the modern ideas of 
education, especially of vocational 
training, Professor Buckhern says: 
“We cannot afford to become a na¬ 
tion of mere skilled producers. The 
cost to manhood is too great. Great 
as has been the industrial advance, 
we have not yet quite given our souls 
in exchange for the world.” What 
a man is, is of far more importance 
than what he makes. This is a truth 
in danger of being forgotten.— West¬ 
ern Recorder. 

526. What Are the Rewards of 

Education? 

The consciousness of a fully de¬ 
veloped nature. A thorough and 
grateful appreciation of this wonder¬ 
ful world. Effectiveness in doing our 
work. Honor among men. The 


power of studying and ever educating 
ourselves more. 

What is a scholar? Not necessarily 
one that knows many things, but one 
that knows how to find out about 
anything. A lover of books, and an 
expert at getting into the heart of 
them. A lover of truth, eager al¬ 
ways to have more of it. 

When is a man educated? Not 
when he is through studying, but 
when he has gained such a general 
view of learning and such a vast en¬ 
joyment of it that he has really be¬ 
gun to study. An educated man is 
possessed of the tools of understand¬ 
ing and the art of using them. He 
is known by his powers and his de¬ 
sires more than by his accomplish¬ 
ments .—Christian Endeavor World. 

527. Democracy and Education. 

Education without religion is merely 
a galvanized corpse. Education is 
a function of religion. Moses began 
with education. We know that the 
development of Israel was the result 
of this education. Our Lord and 
Saviour was first of all called teacher. 
Go ye into all the world-—not only 
evangelizing, but teaching them to 
observe all things I have commanded. 
Education has been the conservative 
of religion. We do not know what 
Christianity might have become but 
for it. And we need to thank God 
for the scholarship of that day. There 
is no such thing as a “simple Gospel.” 
Sometimes we drag the Gospel down 
to get a little popularity. We may 
talk about a simple ocean, but we can 
not talk of a simple God. The Gos¬ 
pel is not simple. Every great revival 
of the world has been the result of 
education. Luther, John Knox, John 
Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, President 
Finney—all these came from the 
schools. The education came from 
the Church. It has been wrapped 
up with religion. Democracy itself 
will not be sufficient. Indeed, it is 



MORAL ELEMENT IN EDUCATION 


127 


most dangerous, except with edu¬ 
cation. 

528. The Moral Element in Edu¬ 

cation. 

There is not the slightest doubt that 
the moral element is the main thing 
in education. Of what real use-can 
that culture be which is as cold as an 
iceberg and as mathematical as the 
multiplication table ? An eminent 
educator truly says: “The need to¬ 
day is to reconstruct our education 
to make it focus on the building of 
positive and effective moral charac¬ 
ter. Moral education is not an aspect 
of education, but the integrating 
center of the whole.” 

529. The Schoolhouse. 

Any fairly good schoolhouse with 
a good teacher within it is a bul¬ 
wark against infidelity and immoral¬ 
ity. “The public schools will save 
this nation,” is often said. The entire 
responsibility for the future of the 
country may not be lodged with them; 
but the thought of the thousands of 
schoolhouses over the land in which 
all sorts of little and larger people 
are being made into wise and better 
Americans is reassuring. But we who 
live where the public school system 
is highly developed need to go back 
a little in time or to travel to the 
newer parts of the land in order to 
realize that a well-ordered system 
of popular education is the product 
of the Christian religion. When a 
new country is being opened up, pri¬ 
vate capital must provide the school. 
There are still hundreds of places in 
this country and its dependencies 
where help from without must be 
given. Simply to plant a church is 
to do but a part of the work de¬ 
manded. So the home mission school 
house arises often close to the mod¬ 
est church edifice. It is a primary 
school, a grammar school, a high 
school, an industrial school, an acad¬ 


emy, according to the immediate ne¬ 
cessities of the region where it is. 

530. The Way to Learn. 

Never be afraid to ask questions 
and to use any knowledge you may 
acquire. It will become doubly yours. 
I read this little poem in the story of 
“The Elephant’s Child” the other day: 

“I keep six honest serving men 
(They taught me all I know), 

Their names are What and Why and When 
And How and Where and Who. 

M I send them over land and sea, 

I send them east and west, 

And after they have worked for me, 

I give them all a rest. 

“I let them rest from nine till five, 

For I am busy then, 

As well as breakfast, lunch and tea. 

For they are hungry men. 

“But different folks have different views; 
I know a person small— 

She keeps ten million serving men, 

Who get no rest at all. 

“She sends them abroad on her own affairs, 
From the second she opens her eyes; 
One million Hows, two million Wheres, 
And seven million Whys!” 

That is the way to learn.— Rev. 
James Learnmount. 

531. Education and Wisdom. 

Education increases the power of 
man to do good or to do evil. The 
world’s worst enemies of humanity 
are some of its educated minds. If 
first a man is good, if first a man has 
the true spirit of a man, then knowl¬ 
edge is a good thing; but in the 
brains of a foolish man or of a bad 
man, it is a dangerous thing, like the 
fire of a firefiend. The heart ought 
first to be educated, then the brain 
makes its culture bless the world. 
The state supports the schools, and 
we pay taxes for the schools, that our 
boys and girls will grow up to be 
worthy citizens of a great republic, 
that it may be a greater republic. 
True democracy takes thought for the 
whole man, and emphasizes the ne¬ 
cessity of honor, as the essential basis 
of business and society, of politics 
and government. “Wisdom is the 




128 


QUALITIES OF A TRAINED MIND 


principal thing, therefore get wis¬ 
dom.”— Rev. A. IV. Lewis. 

532. Why the Bible Educates. 

The Bible educates because it makes 
people think. A phonograph record 
has a better memory than any man, 
but no machine can think. Cultivate 
memory but education is the develop¬ 
ing of the thinking powers in man. 
Jesus established democracy in thought 
as well as in religion. He invited all 
to think. He made them think. He 
gave, not rules, but principles for 
guidance; and it takes much thought 
to apply principles to life in ever- 
changing conditions. He taught men 
to think from the viewpoint of oth¬ 
ers. By revealing the symbolic mean¬ 
ing of Nature, he inspired to science. 
By showing that every human life is 
a part of the plan of the Infinite, 
each life received a majesty un¬ 
dreamed and in tune with the infinite 
thought God’s thoughts after him. It 
is a liberal education to associate with 
truly great minds; and the Bible 
brings us into fellowship with the 
wisdom of the Creator. The citizens 
of America would never elect a Presi¬ 
dent that did not heartily believe in 
the Bible. Some boys in the public 
schools to-day will be President some 
day; and their best chance is their 
knowing and living the Bible.— Rev. 
A. W. Lewis. 

533. Qualities of a Trained Mind. 

A little girl was asked one day to 
define drawing, and she did so with 
an acuteness that could not have been 
surpassed by a philosopher: “draw¬ 
ing,” she said, “is thinking and then 
marking round the think.” It would 
be very difficult to find a more accu¬ 
rate or precise definition than that. 
When Opey, the painter, was asked 
with what he mixed his colors, he 
said, “Brains, sir.” That is, he 
thought and then he clustered what he 
was to do round the thought and he 


made the thought luminous in ob¬ 
jective reality because of his assidu¬ 
ous purpose to make the thing real 
which had begun as an ideal in his 
own mind. 

534. America Demands Education. 

This world is made better, not by 
denouncing the evil, but by giving 
something better. The Indians used 
to like skunk flesh and muskrats; but 
when they get plenty of good beef, 
they do not hunt after skunks. Some 
untrained boys and girls like to read 
silly, false, demoralizing novels; and 
if they keep this up, their character 
is worthless and worse. Give them 
something better, something true, 
something educative; and they grad¬ 
ually acquire a taste for the good. 
Then they would scorn to read trash, 
as much as they would to eat bad 
eggs. There is abundance of good 
reading; but often the young people 
do not know what is good and what 
is bad. There ought to be a novel 
censor, who could burn and outlaw 
all books that are detrimental to good 
citizenship. The good of America de¬ 
mands the best kind of minds and 
morals.— Rev. A. W. Lewis. 

535. Education. 

Jones read a five-foot bookshelf held 
An ample store of learning, 

So started in to carpenter 

With thirst for knowledge burning. 

He purchased hammer, saw and plane, 

Of paint made a selection. 

And then began to make the shelf 
By magazine direction. 

He smashed eight fingers and two thumbs 
And nearly planed his nose off; 

He scattered fourteen quarts of paint 
And almost sawed his toes off. 

He now is in the hospital 
Receiving ministration; 

The doctors say he may get well— 

He has an education. 

—McLandburgh Wilson. 

536. Education, Preparation for 

Surprises. 

Think of the passengers on the ill- 
fated Lusitania! A great ship she 



RELIGION AND EDUCATION 


129 


was, stately and graceful as she 
plowed the ocean waves on her home¬ 
ward voyage. A thousand hearts 
beat happily. But alas for human 
hopes, for with the suddenness of a 
lightning bolt the great ship, was 
struck by two death-dealing torpedoes 
from a submarine boat. Sad and 
shocking was the loss of life. The 
world will never get through its wail 
of sorrow or its protest of indignation 
over that gigantic crime. 

Yet human life is full of just such 
sudden surprises. Education is prepa¬ 
ration for surprises. 

537. Religion and Education. 

Religion and education, I firmly be¬ 
lieve, are the agencies that will save 
the world from the perils that tem¬ 
porarily may threaten. A return to 
religion and the spread of education 
will foster a spirit of amity between 
nations that will in time find its ex¬ 
pression in a permanent tribunal of 
arbitration, and will help to adjust 
the differences arising in our social 
life, or solve the problems which are 
confronting the human race in its 
onward march. In America, where 
these two institutions—religion and 
education—are so firmly established 
we have little occasion for fear of 
the future.— A. J. Pothier. 

538. Success in Knowing How. 

The Middle Ages crowned the sol¬ 
dier, but our generation weaves its 
chaplets for the scholar. In the de¬ 
mocracy we have as many kings as 
there are realms. 

Our people reserve the throne for 
the man who has the last fact in the 
case. One man ruling us in the 
realm of electricity; another in the 
realm of chemistry; the discovery of 
a third lifts him into the throne as a 
statesman and lawmaker. 

Some kings are born kings because 
they open their eyes in the palace, 
9 


and these kings are artificial. And 
some kings achieve their throne by 
invention, discoveries in art or science 
and literature. These are natural 
kings, divinely ordained and rule by 
the only divine right, the right of su¬ 
perior worth. 

Years many and long have passed 
since some of us left behind the 
chapel and library forever. But 
events have been our teachers, and we 
have learned that wisdom is better 
than rubies and knowledge is more 
precious than fine gold. Every con¬ 
tribution to the granary of civilization 
has come from the hand of a scholar, 
sometimes trained in the school of 
practical life and sometimes taught in 
the lecture room. Experience hath 
proven that all failure is ignorance, 
that all success is knowing how.— 
Rev. N. D. Hillis, DD. 

539. A Wonderful Investment. 

Millet, the great French artist, one 
day made a small purchase at a shop. 
He paid one franc for a yard of can¬ 
vas, and two francs for some colors 
and a hair brush. Here was an out¬ 
lay of only sixty cents. But the 
painter took this material to his studio 
and toiled night and day, until his 
skill had spread the colors over that 
little piece of canvas. Sixty cents 
was invested in the original materials, 
out of which grew Millet’s famous 
painting, “The Angelus,” which was 
sold a few years ago for $105,000. 

A cultivated intellect can give al¬ 
most priceless value to anything it 
touches. Knowledge is power. An 
education is the best investment in this 
world. Some one asked a famous 
painter, as he watched the artist 
spreading some brilliant colors on the 
canvas, “What do you mix your 
paints with?” The laconic reply was, 
“With brains, sir.” A trained brain 
is an investment worth more than the 
richest gold mine. 



13 ° 


THE SANDPAPERING 


Think of the wealth of America, 
and its wonderful resources ! But the 
true riches of this country is not in 
the crops, the lumber, and the coal, 
and gold and silver mines, but in its 
schools, colleges, churches, Sunday 
schools and libraries. 

When John Cabot Lodge investi¬ 
gated the distribution of able men in 
the United States, he discovered that 
in the course of ninety years the 
State of Massachusetts had produced 
2,636 statesmen, philosophers, authors, 
orators and scholars. New England 
was wise in planting so many schools 
and colleges early in her history. Here 
the boys trained their minds, and soon 
won their spurs on the intellectual 
battle-fields of the Republic. 

Some young men cannot go to 
college, but they can study evenings, 
and use the public libraries, and by 
improving every spare moment they 
can train their hands and eyes and 
brains, and thus make a splendid in¬ 
vestment .—Warren S. Partridge. 

540. Education in Order to Doing. 

John Ruskin speaks of the perils of 
education in “The Stones of Venice.” 
“We continually fall into error by 
considering the intellectual powers as 
having dignity in themselves, and 
separable from the heart. The in¬ 
tellect is yet mean or noble going 
through the same processes according 
to the matter it deals with; and it 
wastes itself away in mere rotary 
motion, if it be set to grind straws 
and dust. The increase of knowl¬ 
edge does not make the soul larger or 
smaller. In the sight of God all the 
knowledge man can know is nothing; 
but the soul, for which the great 
scheme of redemption was laid, be it 
ignorant or be it wise, is all in all. 
To have the heart open and the eyes 
clear and the emotions and thoughts 
warm and quick, that, and not the 
knowing of this or the other fact, is 


the state needed for all mighty doing 
in the world.”— Rev. A. W. Lezms. 

541. The Sandpapering. 

Did you ever watch a man working 
at a turning lathe? He has a stick of 
wood between the holders. His chisel 
has been cutting away the corners 
until at last the perfect form has 
been brought out. But the stick is 
not perfect yet. It has many a rough 
place in it, in spite of the work of 
the sharp chisel. How now shall the 
workman go on to finish his task? 
Watch him as he picks up a piece 
of sandpaper and holds it up to the 
thing he has been shaping. The dust 
flies as he presses the rough thing 
against the sides of the rapidly mov¬ 
ing piece of wood. Once in a while 
he takes the paper off and looks at 
the wood. It is becoming smoother 
now. A moment more and he takes 
it out of the lathe and puts it away, 
a finished article. 

It hurts to be made perfect. We 
shrink from the hard work that lies 
between us and a complete education. 
The days are long. The lessons are 
hard. We stop and look out where 
the sun is shining, and we wish we 
were like the birds, happy, bright, and 
free. But that is not the way of the 
best education. There must be the 
sharp sandpaper of study, running 
down through the years until at last 
all the rough places have been 
smoothed away. 

We long to be better, truer men and 
women. But it costs to reach that 
state. Between us and the full-round¬ 
ed manhood for which we yearn lies 
much of sandpapering. 

542. Knowledge and Education. 

Education is not everything, but it 
is more than the scholars think; and 
the aim of an ever-increasing number 
is to make it all that it can be made. 
“It is the great thing. Then get it, 
and get it quick.” In a wonderful 



WHAT IS EDUCATION? 


131 


way it develops the power of a human 
being to take care of himself and to 
do things. The boy and the girl often 
sees only the weary hours and the 
dry exercises; but later on in life, 
they reliaze that they have been step¬ 
ping upward on these dry and hard 
things, to be looked up to by their 
fellows and to be able to command a 
position of greater influence and of 
more money. As civilization advances 
education becomes more imperative. 
The free schools of America are 
blending the various nationalities and 
making worthy citizens for the fu¬ 
ture. It is doing much to realize the 
motto on our coins, “E Pluribus 
Unum.” 

Knowledge has its limitations: for, 
even in an aeroplane the human eye 
cannot see all around the world at 
once. It has its dangers, like foot¬ 
ball. It has its uses, as the sun finds 
something to do in the growing of the 
sweet flowers of nature. It finds its 
complement in the inner life of honor 
and the dominating spirit of love. 
Knowledge and kindness blend to 
make the pure, white light of abso¬ 
lute and vital truth. 

Big cities have their skyscrapers, 
which is architecture run to seed, to 
economize ground space. So knowl¬ 
edge is in danger of running to seed, 
with little fruit. In itself it is apt to 
affect the head, extending it out¬ 
wardly, with rooms to rent. America 
has many swelled heads, empty with 
knowledge; and they resound through¬ 
out the land, like hollow sleigh-bells, 
with one or two little thoughts mak¬ 
ing the music.— Rev. A. W. Lewis. 

543. What is Education? 

What is education? The question 
is very old and has received many 
answers. Plato said: “The purpose 


of education is to give to the body 
and to the soul all the beauty and all 
the perfection of which they are cap¬ 
able.” John Stuart Mill wrote: “Ed¬ 
ucation includes whatever we do for 
ourselves and whatever is done for us 
by others for the express purpose of 
bringing us nearer to the perfection 
of our nature.” Herbert Spencer 
said: “Education is the preparation 
for complete living.” Many other 
definitions have been given, but the 
gist of all of them is that education 
is the full development of our per¬ 
sonality. It is, therefore, as broad 
as the whole man and includes body, 
mind and heart. A sound, symmet¬ 
rical body, full of vitality and vigor, 
a disciplined mind stored with knowl¬ 
edge and accurate in its mental pro¬ 
cesses, a pure, warm heart, tender in 
its sensibilities and wide in its sym¬ 
pathies, a strong will masterful in 
self-control and in power to bend all 
things under its hand, an imagination 
that can see pictures and visions, a 
spirit of reverence that feels the di¬ 
vineness of the world and enters into 
the holy place of the Most High— 
these are elements of education and 
when combined in their right pro¬ 
portion and full harmony constitute 
its ideal. It assumes different types 
in different ages, being molded by the 
spirit of its time. In ancient Sparta 
its chief aim was to produce soldiers; 
in Athens it aimed at sensuous beauty 
and delight; in Rome it aimed at 
power to govern; in the Middle Ages 
it was much concerned with the oth¬ 
er world; and in modern times it is 
much concerned with this world. In 
these days of peace and diversified 
interests, when our life has become 
broader and richer, it aims at the full 
development of all our powers.— 
Presbyterian Banner. 



132 WASHINGTON’S RELIGIOUS CHARACTER 


VII. WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY 

(Born February 22, 1732.) 


544. Easily First. 

Who is the greatest man in Con¬ 
gress ?” somebody asked Patrick 
Henry when he returned home after 
the session which opened in Phila¬ 
delphia, September 5, 1774. 

“If you speak of eloquence,” he 
answered, “Mr. Rutledge, of South 
Carolina, is by far the greatest ora¬ 
tor; but if you speak of solid infor¬ 
mation and sound judgment, Colonel 
Washington is unquestionably the 
greatest man on the floor.” 

Not wild flights of oratory and 
gorgeous, lurid words, but deeds 
characterized the man who became 
“first in the hearts of his country¬ 
men.” And back of these was the 
sound judgment which Patrick Henry 
pointed out in his reply. 

545. Washington’s Religious Char¬ 

acter. 

Washington always acknowledged 
his indebtedness to his mother. He 
could say with John Quincy Adams, 
“Such as I have been, whatever it 
was, such as I am, whatever it is, 
and such as I hope to be in all fu¬ 
turity, must be ascribed, under Provi¬ 
dence, to the precepts and example 
of my mother.” 

Those familiar with his history 
know how thoroughly this religious 
element everywhere manifested itself. 
In this respect he differed from the 
great mass of public political men of 
the day. Washington was preemi¬ 
nently personally a godly man, a man 
of prayer and a lover of the Bible. 
When sore trials or great responsibili¬ 
ties confronted him he sought relief 
in prayer. 

He was a church member and a 
regular and devoted worshiper in the 
sanctuary. In the house of God his 


demeanor was always reverential and 
devout. No company ever kept him 
from church. One of his pastors 
bears this testimony: “I have often 
been at Mt. Vernon on Sabbath morn¬ 
ing when the breakfast table was 
filled with guests, but to him they 
furnished no pretext for neglecting 
the house of God, but he invariably 
invited them to accompany him.” 
What an example to our modern pub¬ 
lic men! 

546. Washington and the Children. 

A very sweet story is told which 
shows how fond Washington was of 
children. One winter night a large 
house in a Northern State was bril¬ 
liantly illuminated; the table was 
spread with fine silver and glass and 
bright decorations, while a number of 
good things were provided for eating. 
A guest was expected, and the dinner 
was spoiling. The domestic said that 
the guest had arrived an hour before 
and had been shown to a room, so 
that he could rest and wash before 
dinner. As he did not come down, 
the host excused himself to his guests 
and went upstairs. On his way he 
passed the nursery, and there sat the 
missing guest, a baby astride his foot. 
He was “riding the child to Boston” 
and singing quite lustily, “How the 
Derby Was Won,” to the delight of 
another child close by. When he saw 
his host, he was a little confused, but 
finished the song, then rose and bade 
the children good-night. “Say ‘Good¬ 
night, and thank you, General George 
Washington!’” said the father. 

“Good-night, and thank you, Gen¬ 
eral George Washington!” the chil¬ 
dren called after him. 

How happy those children must 
have been through life to remember 



WASHINGTON’S GREATNESS 


133 


the time when Washington forgot his 
dinner to play with them! 

547. Washington’s Greatness. 

Guizot, the distinguished French 
historian, said : “Washington lived to 
receive and enjoy both success and 
repose. Of all men he was the most 
virtuous and the most fortunate. In 
this world God has no higher favors 
to bestow.” 

548. His Modesty. 

Any collection of anecdotes about 
Washington is sure to refer to his 
extreme modesty. Upon one occa¬ 
sion, when the speaker of the As¬ 
sembly returned thanks in glowing 
terms to Colonel Washington for his 
services, he rose to express his ac¬ 
knowledgments, but he was so em¬ 
barrassed that he could not articulate 
a word. “Sit down, Mr. Washington,” 
said the speaker, “your modesty equals 
your valor, and that surpasses the 
power of any language which I pos¬ 
sess.” 

When Adams suggested that Con¬ 
gress should appoint a general, and 
hinted plainly at Washington, who 
happened to sit near the door, the 
latter rose, “and, with his usual mod¬ 
esty, darted into the library room.” 

549. Washington Had Temper. 

Stuart, the portrait painter, once 
said of General Lee that Washington 
had a tremendous temper, but that he 
had it under wonderful control. While 
dining with the Washingtons, Gen¬ 
eral Lee repeated the first part of 
Stuart’s remark. Mrs. Washington 
flushed, and said that Mr. Stuart 
took a great deal upon himself. Then 
General Lee said that Mr. Stuart had 
added that the President had his 
temper under wonderful control. 
Washington seemed to be thinking 
for a moment, then he smiled and 
said, “Mr. Stuart is right.” 


550. His Smile. 

The popular idea that Washington 
never laughed is well-nigh exploded. 
Nelly Curtis said, “I have sometimes 
made him laugh most heartily from 
sympathy with my joyous and ex¬ 
travagant spirits.” 

When the news came from Doctor 
Franklin in France that help was 
promised from that country, General 
Washington broke into a laugh, waved 
his cocked hat, and said to his of¬ 
ficers, “The day is ours!” Another 
story is to the effect that while pres¬ 
ent at the baptism of a child of a 
Mr. Wood he was so surprised to hear 
the name given as George Washington 
that he smiled. Senator Maclay tells 
of his smiling at a state dinner, and 
even toying with his fork. Various 
sources testify that a smile lent an 
unusual beauty to his face. 

551. His Athletic Skill. 

Many stories are told which show 
Washington’s athletic skill. During 
a surveying expedition he first visited 
the Natural Bridge in Virginia. Stand¬ 
ing almost directly under it he tossed 
a stone on top, a disitance of nearly 
five hundred feet. He scaled the 
rocks and carved his name far above 
all others. He was said to be the 
only man who could throw a stone 
across the Potomac River. Washing¬ 
ton was never more at home than 
when in the saddle. “The general is 
a very excellent and bold horseman,” 
wrote a contemporary, “leaping the 
highest fences and going extremely 
quick, without standing on his stir¬ 
rups, bearing on his bridle or letting 
his horse run wild.” 

After his first battle Washington 
wrote to his brother, “I heard the 
bullets whistle about me, and believe 
me, there is something charming in 
the sound.” But years after, when 
he had learned all there was to know 
of the horrors of war, he said, sadly, 
“I said that when I was young.” 



134 


WASHINGTON AS AN INVENTOR 


552. Washington’s Dress. 

Although always very particular 

about his dress, Washington was no 
dandy, as some have supposed. “Do 
not,” he wrote to his nephew, in 1783, 
“conceive that fine clothes make fine 
men any more than fine feathers make 
fine birds. A plain, genteel dress is 
more admired and obtains more credit 
than lace or embroidery in the eyes 
of the judicious and sensible.” 

Sullivan thus describes Washing¬ 
ton at a levee: “He was dressed in 
black velvet; his hair full dress, 
powdered and gathered behind in a 
lage silk bag, yellow gloves on his 
hands; holding a cocked hat, with 
a cockade in it, and the edges adorned 
with a black feather about an inch 
deep. He wore knee and shoe buck¬ 
les, and a long sword—The scab¬ 
bard was of white polished leather.” 
— Youth's Companion. 

553. Washington. 

O noble brow, so wise in thought! 

O heart, so true! O soul unbought! 

O eye, so keen to pierce the night 
And guide the “ship of state” aright! 

O life, so simple, grand and free, 

The humblest still may turn to thee. 

O king, uncrowned! O prince of men! 
When shall we see thy like again? 

—Mary Wingate. 

554. George Washington. 

This was the man God gave us when the 
hour 

Proclaimed the dawn of Liberty begun; 
Who dared a deed, and died when it 
was done: 

Patient in triumph, temperate in power,— 
Not striving like the Corsican to tower 
To heaven, nor like great Philip’s greater 
son 

To win the world and weep for world’s 
unwon. 

Or lose the star to revel in the flower. 

The lives that serve the eternal verities 
Alone do mold mankind. Pleasure and 
pride 

Sparkle awhile and perish, as the spray, 
Smoking across the crests of cavernous seas 
Is impotent to hasten or delay 
The everlasting surges of the tide. 

—John H. Ingham. 

555. Careful of Engagements. 

The eminent artist, Rembrandt 
Peale (who was himself born on the 


22d of February), painted a portrait 
of Washington during the year 1796. 
Peale was a youth of eighteen, work¬ 
ing in his father’s studio at Philadel¬ 
phia, and Washington was just com¬ 
pleting his second term of Adminis¬ 
tration. The President kindly gave 
the young artist two or three sittings. 
Mr. Peale told me that just before 
the hour he saw the stately figure of 
the President walking back and forth 
in Independence Square—watch in 
hand—and just as the clock struck 
nine in the tower of the Hall he en¬ 
tered the studio. Washington prid¬ 
ed himself on his punctuality; he 
was never one minute behind an en¬ 
gagement. When a tardy private sec¬ 
retary excused his lateness by the plea 
that his watch was out of order, 
“Then,” said the President, “you 
must get a new watch, or else I must 
get a new secretary.”— Rev . T. L. 
Cuyler, D.D. 

556. Washington’s Size. 

George Washington was six feet 
two inches tall and weighed 175 
pounds, according to a physical de¬ 
scription of him at the age of twenty- 
eight. He had big hands, big feet, 
big joints and was well muscled. He 
walked quite erect, and at the age of 
sixty-five it was remarked that he 
was as straight as ever in his carriage. 

557. Washington As an Inventor. 

George Washington, like Abraham 
Lincoln, was an inventor. He in¬ 
vented a deep soil plow, which was 
used on his plantation in Virginia un¬ 
til he heard of a better one in Eng¬ 
land. This he imported at once. His 
invention was useful, which is more 
than can be said of Lincoln’s. The 
latter invented a flatboat designed to 
go through very shallow water or lift 
itself over bars, but it would not 
work. 



HUMAN SIDE OF WASHINGTON 


135 


558. Washington’s Punctuality. 

Punctuality was one of Washing¬ 
ton’s strong points. When company 
was invited to dinner he made an 
allowance of only five minutes for 
variation in watches. If the guests 
came late he would say: ‘We are too 
punctual for you. I have a cook who 
does not ask if the company has come, 
but if the hour has come.” 

In a letter to a friend he wrote: 
“I begin my diurnal course with the 
sun; if my hirelings are not in their 
places by that time I send them mes¬ 
sages of sorrow for their indisposi¬ 
tion.” 

559. Washington’s Appearance. 

In appearance Washington was tall, 
athletic and graceful, always well 
dressed and courtly, of great strength 
and with large hands and feet, face 
rather pale and pockmarked, hair al¬ 
most reddish, eyes gray, usually veiled 
by dropping lids; nose prominent, 
mouth and chin not large, but strong; 
forehead receding, but with the ap¬ 
pearance of elevation; carriage erect 
and distinguished—withal a hand¬ 
some man noted of women and not¬ 
ing them in turn; an aristocrat of the 
old school; in a word, a Virginia 
gentleman.—/. A. Bdgerton. 

560. Human Side of Washington. 

The young relatives of Washington 
always knew where to turn for help 
and sympathy. At different times he 
took charge of at least nine of the 
children of his kindred, and paid ex¬ 
penses for them. His ledger shows 
five thousand dollars given to the 
two sons of his brother Samuel. A 
great deal of this money was used for 
their education, and we have to-day 
letters which Washington wrote them 
advising them as to their studies. 

The eldest son of his favorite 
brother, John Augustine, was Wash¬ 
ington’s favorite nephew. He was 
much interested in the legal studies 


of this Bushrod Washington and 
proud of the repute he gained. Yet, 
when this same nephew asked for an 
appointment as attorney to the Fed¬ 
eral district court, Washington felt 
compelled to refuse. “However de¬ 
serving you may be,” he wrote, “I 
could not nominate you in preference 
to some of the oldest and most es¬ 
teemed lawyers in your state, who 
are desirous of this appointment.” 
It was this nephew whom Washing¬ 
ton made executor of his will and to 
whom he left his private papers and 
his library.— C. L. Pray. 

561. Cherry Tree Story Symbolic. 

We have all read the .tory of how 
the boy George innocently hacked his 
father’s choice cherry tree with his 
little hatchet, but promptly confessed 
his fault in the interest of truth, say¬ 
ing he would not tell a lie to hide his 
unwitting offense, thus healing his 
father’s hurt with a manly avowal of 
truth. Apart from the fact or fiction 
of the cherry tree story, which prob¬ 
ably grew out of the public knowl¬ 
edge of Washington’s life love of ver¬ 
acity, the boyhood incident of the tale 
illustrates a noble characteristic in 
the make-up of our first President of 
which we are all proud. 

562. Fond of Children. 

Many people have the idea that 
Washington was not fond of children 
and young people, but a study of his 
life and letters shows the very op¬ 
posite to be the case. Stories told by 
his friends also bring out this trait in 
Washington’s character. 

One account tells of a visit made to 
Providence during the war. “We ar¬ 
rived at night,” the writer says, “and 
the whole of the population had as¬ 
sembled. We were surrounded by a 
crowd of children carrying torches 
and all eager to approach the person 
of him whom they called their father. 
They pressed so closely around us that 



136 


WASHINGTON’S GOOD HUMOR 


they hindered us from proceeding. 
General Washington was much af¬ 
fected, stopped a few moments, and, 
pressing my hand, said, ‘We may be 
beaten, by the English; it is the 
chance of war, but behold an army 
which they can never conquer.’ ”— 
C. L. Pray. 

563. Washington’s Joke. 

The only admirable quality in which 
Washington was deficient was humor. 
One of the very few jests he ever 
made—perhaps the only one—has de¬ 
scended to posterity on the authority 
of his aide-de-camp, Colonel Hum¬ 
phreys. 

General Washington rather prided 
himself on his riding, so the colonel 
one day when they were out hunting 
together, dared him to follow over 
one particular hedge. The challenge 
was accepted, and Humphreys led the 
way. He took the leap boldly, but, 
to his consternation, found that he had 
mistaken the spot, and was sunk up 
to his horse’s girths in a guagmire. 
The general either knew the ground 
better, or had suspected something, 
for, following over at his engulfed 
aide, exclaimed, “No, no, colonel, you 
are too deep for me!” 

564. His Ready Help. 

Passing some soldiers who were 
hoisting a log on top of a fort, Wash¬ 
ington observed that the load seemed 
too heavy for them. He thereupon 
asked a corporal bossing the job to 
help. This officer, not recognizing 
his general, turned with all .the pomp 
of an emperor and responded, “Sir, 
I am a corporal.” Dismounting, 
Washington himself helped to put the 
log in place, after which he said, “Mr. 
Corporal, when you have another such 
job and not enough men send for 
your commander-in-chief, and I will 
gladly come and help you a second 
time.” 


565. A Lover of Children. 

Miss Stuart, the daughter of Gil¬ 
bert Stuart who painted the most 
famous portrait of Washington, gives 
us the following glimpse of Washing¬ 
ton as a lover of children: “One 
morning, while Mr. Washington was 
sitting for his picture, a little brother 
of mine ran into the room, when my 
father, thinking it would annoy the 
general, told him he must leave. But 
the general took him upon his knee, 
held him for some time, and had 
quite a little chat with him. My 
brother remembered with pride as 
long as he lived that Washington had 
talked with him.” 

566. Washington’s Good Humor. 

Some one has said that Washington 
never smiled, but this is a mistake, 
as those who knew him say. When 
he entered Boston in triumph on the 
17th of March, 1776, he took up his 
headquarters at the best public house 
in Boston, which was at the head of 
State Street, until then called King 
Street. The daughter of the keeper 
of the inn was a little girl playing 
about the house, and, of course, in¬ 
terested in all that passed. Washing¬ 
ton, with his usual kindness to chil¬ 
dren called the child to him and said, 
“You have seen the soldiers on both 
sides; which do you like the best ?” 
The little girl could not tell a lie any 
more than he could, and with a chil¬ 
dish frankness, she said she liked the 
redcoats best. Washington laughed 
and said to her, “Yes, my dear; the 
redcoats do look the best, but it takes 
the ragged boys to do the fighting.” 
This is one of the many well-authen¬ 
ticated anecdotes which disprove the 
theory that Washington never smiled. 
—Household Journal. 

567. Father of His Country. 

Perhaps one of Washington’s most 
charming letters is to little Virginia 
Lafayette, whose famous father 



WASHINGTON IN PRAYER 


137 


formed with Washington one of the 
noted and significant friendships in 
history. 

“Permit me to thank my little cor¬ 
respondent for the favor of her letter 
of the 18th of June last, and to im¬ 
press her with the idea of the pleasure 
I shall derive from a continuance of 
them. Her papa is restored to her 
with all the good health, affection, 
and honors her tender heart could 
wish. He will give her assurance of 
the affectionate regard with which I 
have the pleasure of being her well- 
wisher, “George Washington.” 

Though Washington never had any 
children of his own, the young peo¬ 
ple with whom he came in contact had 
much reason to thank him for the 
fatherly help and interest so gener¬ 
ously given. Truly, as some one long 
ago said, “God left him childless that 
he might be the father of his coun¬ 
try.”— C. L. Pray . 

568. Washington in Prayer. 

The American army was in winter 
quarters. They had nothing but huts 
built of boughs, and were obliged to 
lie upon the ground. So scarce were 
blankets that many of the soldiers 
sat up all night by the fires. 

“At one time,” says a historian, 
“more than a thousand soldiers had 
not a shoe to their feet. We could 
trace their march by the blood which 
their naked feet left in the ice.” 

It was a terrible time for the hopes 
of America. Many times the ragged, 
half-fed troops would have given up 
had it not been for their faith in their 
commander-in-chief. And what sus¬ 
tained him ? Washington had faith in 
God. The General and his staff 
boarded at the house of one Potts, a 
Quaker. Every day Washington went 
out alone into the woods and invari¬ 
ably returned with a more cheerful 
countenance. Wondering at this the 
Quaker followed him one day. What 
did he see? Washington upon his 


knees amid the snow, engaged in 
prayer. 

569. Glimpse of Washington’s 

Heart. 

One time when Washington was 
journeying through New England he 
spent a night at a private house, as he 
could not get accommodations at an 
inn. His host would take no pay¬ 
ment; so Washington wrote this let¬ 
ter from his next stopping-place: 

“Being informed that you have 
given my name to one of your sons, 
and called another after Mrs. Wash¬ 
ington’s family, and being very much 
pleased with the modest and innocent 
looks of your two daughters, Polly 
and Patty, I send each of these girls 
a piece of chintz; and to Patty, who 
bears the name of Mrs. Washington, 
and who waited on us more than 
Polly did, I send 5 guineas (about 
$25), with which she may buy herself 
any little ornaments she may want. 
As I do not give these things with 
a view of having it talked of, the less 
said about the matter the better you 
will please me; but, that I may be 
sure the chintz and the money have 
got safe to hand, let Patty, who I 
dare say is equal to it, write me a line 
informing me thereof, directed to 
‘The President of the United States, 
at New York.’” 

570. Washington’s Wit. 

The common opinion is that Wash¬ 
ington was such an austere personage 
that he never deigned to 4 smile or 
crack a joke. A postscript to a let¬ 
ter to Mr. Lear just after he left 
Philadelphia and the presidency in 
1797 has a humorous touch. The ex¬ 
president was arranging to have his 
things sent back to Mount Vernon, to 
which he was retiring to end his days 
in peace and quietude. He gave in¬ 
structions to have the grate packed 
in some old carpeting to keep it from 
scratching. After various other in- 




138 


THE HATCHET STORY 


structions and Washington’s- habitual 
expression of affection, regard, etc., 
with which he closed all his letters 
to his secretary came the postcript: 
“On one side I am called upon to 
remember the Parrot, on the other to 
remember the dog. For my own part 
I should not pine much if both were 
forgot.” 

571. For Defense. 

In his will Washington left his 
swords to his five nephews, saying 
that they were not to unsheathe them 
for the purpose of shedding blood ex¬ 
cept in self-defense or in defense of 
their country and its rights; and in the 
latter case they were to keep the 
swords unsheathed and prefer falling 
with them in their hands to the re¬ 
linquishment thereof. 

572. Washington’s Fatherly Inter¬ 

est. 

The first order Washington sent to 
London after his marriage included 
“Toys,” and “six little books for 
children beginning to read.” These 
were for his two step-children, John 
and Martha Custis, who were then 
six and four years old. A little later 
he ordered “one fashionably dressed 
doll,” “A box of Gingerbread Toys 
and Sugar Images,” and a Bible 
and a Prayer-book for each, “neatly 
bound in Turkey,” with names “in 
gilt letters on the inside of the cover.” 

573. The Hatchet Story. 

George Washington was born in 
1732. The hatchet incident, happen¬ 
ing when he was six, must date from 
1738. Nearly seventy years passed be¬ 
fore it got into print, yet for thirty 
years Washington had been a famous 
character. One is inclined to ask 
why Parson Weems didn’t use the 
story in his earlier editions, since he 
says he had known it for twenty 
years. 

Following is the original cherry tree 


and hatchet story, faithfully copied 
from the 1809 edition of Parson 
Weems’ “Life of George Washing¬ 
ton.” 

The author prefaces the anecdote 
with a brief paragraph, in which he 
says “it is too valuable to be lost and 
too true to be doubted.” The fa¬ 
mous story begins on page thirteen of 
the book. An old woman tells it. 

“When George,” said she, “was 
about six years old, he was. made the 
wealthy master of a hatchet, of which, 
like most little boys, he was immoder^ 
ately fond; and was constantly going 
about chopping everything that came in 
his way. One day, in the garden, where 
he often amused himself hacking his 
mother’s pea-sticks, he unluckily tried 
the edge of his hatchet on the body 
of a beautiful young English cherry 
tree, which he hacked so terribly, 
that I don’t believe the tree ever got 
the better of it. The next morning 
the old gentlemen, finding out what 
had befallen his tree, which, by the 
way, was a great favorite, came into 
the house; and with much warmth 
asked for the mischievous author, 
declaring at the same time, that he 
would not have taken five guineas for 
his tree. Presently George and 
his hatchet made their appearance. 
‘George,’ said his father, ‘do you know 
who killed that beautiful little cherry 
tree yonder in the garden?’ That 
was a tough question; and George 
staggered under it for a moment; 
but quickly recovered himself; and 
looking at his father, with the sweet 
face of youth brightened with the 
inexpressible charm of all-conquering 
truth, he bravely cried out, ‘I can’t 
tell a lie, Pa; you know I can’t tell a 
lie. I did cut it with my hatchet.’ 
‘Run to my arms, you dearest boy,’ 
cried his father in transports; ‘run 
to my arms; glad am I, George, that 
you have killed my tree; for you 
have paid me for it a thousand fold. 
Such an act of heroism in my son is 



LINCOLN’S TRIBUTE TO WASHINGTON 


139 


worth more than a thousand trees, 
though blossomed with silver, and 
their fruits of purest gold.’ ” 

574* Washington and Slavery. 

How about slavery, the vexed ques¬ 
tion of that time and the awful 
question of the days of Lincoln? “I 
never mean unless some particular 
circumstances should compel me to it, 
to possess another slave by purchase— 
it being among my first wishes to see 
some plan adopted by which slavery 
in this country may be abolished by 
law.” This was in 1786. In 1797 he 
wrote: “I wish from my soul that 
the legislature of this state could see 
the policy of a gradual abolition of 
slavery. It might prevent much fu¬ 
ture mischief.” His will directed the 
emancipation of his slaves on the 
death of his wife. 

575. Lincoln’s Tribute to Washing¬ 

ton. 

This is the one hundred and tenth 
anniversary of Washington. We are 
met to celebrate this day. Washing¬ 
ton is the mightiest name on earth— 
long since mightiest in the cause of 
civil liberty, still mightiest in moral 
reformation. On that name a eulogy 
is expected. It cannot be. To add 
brightness to the sun or glory to the 
name of Washington is alike impos¬ 
sible. Let none attempt it. In sol¬ 
emn awe pronounce the name, and let 
its naked, deathless splendor leave it 
shining on .—Abraham Lincoln. 

576. Pure Patriotism. 

Do you know how much money 
Washington received for his services 
as Commander-in-chief of the army 
in the time of the American Revolu¬ 
tion? Not one farthing. His suc¬ 
cessors in the army have received 
their seventeen thousand or nineteen 
thousand dollars a year. But for 
Valley Forge, and Monmouth, and 
the Delaware crossing, and all the 


other horrors of the Revolution, 
Washington received not a farthing. 
What but pure love of country in¬ 
spired Governor Nelson, of Virginia, 
during the Revolutionary War, when, 
at the siege of Yorktown, Lafayette 
asked him to what point the cannon 
had better be directed, and Governor 
Nelson answered, “Point to that 
house; it is mine, and the best house 
in the town, and Lord Cornwallis 
will surely be occupying that as his 
headquarters.” 

577. Sees Hand of Providence. 

After one of Washington’s great 
successes he wrote to a friend in Vir¬ 
ginia: “The hand of Providence has 
been so conspicuous in all this that 
he must be worse than an infidel that 
lacks faith, and more than wicked 
that has not gratitude enough to ac¬ 
knowledge his obligations.” 

578. Washington and West Point 

The education of young men was a 
matter that appealed to Washington 
very strongly. Over and over again 
in his speeches and letters he urges 
the necessity for better educational 
opportunities. The formation of a 
national university was a favorite idea 
of his, and it was largely through his 
efforts and energy that West Point 
was established. 

579. Interested in Education. 

Washington was interested not only 
in the children of his relatives, but in 
those of his friends as well. He puts 
in his ledger the entry that thirty 
pounds, or nearly $150, was given to 
the son of his friend and personal 
physician, Dr. Craik. This money 
was to go toward the education of the 
young man, who was one of Wash¬ 
ington’s many namesakes. He writes 
a letter giving William Ramsey 
twenty-five pounds a year for the 
education of his son at Jersey Col¬ 
lege. “Don’t look on this as an ob- 



140 


WASHINGTON AND LAFAYETTE 


ligation,” Washington goes on to say; 
“and be assured from me it will 
never be known.” 

580. Washington and Lafayette. 

Lafayette, in his memoirs, describes 
a review of Washington’s army which 
he witnessed. “Eleven thousand men, 
but tolerably armed, and still worse 
clad, presented a singular spectacle; 
in this parti-colored and often naked 
state, the best dressed wore hunting 
shirts of brown linen. Their tactics 
were equally irregular. They were 
arranged without regard to size, ex¬ 
cepting that the smallest men were the 
front rank. With all this, there were 
good-looking soldiers conducted by 
zealous officers.” 

“We ought to feel embarrassed,” 
said Washington to him “in present¬ 
ing ourselves before an officer just 
from the French army.” 

“It is to learn, and not to instruct, 
that I came here,” was the apt and 
modest reply, and it gained for the 
young Frenchman an immediate popu¬ 
larity. 

581. Gladstone’s Tribute. 

“I have almost idolized him for sixty 
years.” 

This tribute by Gladstone to Wash¬ 
ington excels even his strong utter¬ 
ances in earlier years. Then he wrote: 

“Washington is to my mind the 
purest figure in history;” and again, 
“I look upon Washington among great 
and good men as one peculiarly good 
and great; he has been to me for 
more than forty years a light upon 
the path of life.” 

582. First Government Office. 

Washington’s first government serv¬ 
ice was rendered in the capacity of 
official surveyor of Culpeper County, 
at a salary of fifty pounds—two hun¬ 
dred and forty-three dollars—a year. 
During this time he had to travel over 
“ye worst Road that ever was trod 


by Man or Beast.” Sometimes he lay 
on straw, which “once catched fire,” 
sometimes under a tent without cov¬ 
ers, sometimes he was driven from 
the tent by the smoke. 

583. Religious View of His Work. 

A writer in the New York Observer 
gives an anecdote of Washington, 
which came to him directly from a 
relative who died in 1854, and who 
was a child in the family which Wash¬ 
ington was visiting at' the time of the 
incident narrated. On the morning of 
his departure for White Plains, just 
before the battle of Chatterton Hill, 
General Washington, in the presence 
of the members of the family and 
others, offered prayer, during which 
he quoted Joshua 22:22: “The Lord 
God of gods, the God of gods, he 
knoweth, and Israel he shall know; 
if it be in rebellion, or if in trans¬ 
gression against the Lord, save us not 
this day.” The Yonkers Statesman 
says of this incident: “When it is 
considered that the words were ut¬ 
tered by the Commander-in-chief of 
the Revolutionary forces at such a 
supreme crisis in the long struggle for 
independence, when the chances of suc¬ 
cess seemed more than doubtful, all 
that read them will regard this utter¬ 
ance as being eloquent and impressive 
to a degree not equalled by any other 
human expression of which history 
contains a record.” 

584. Washington’s Discernment. 

Washington had keen and sure dis¬ 
cernment of men. He recognized the 
brilliant ability of Hamilton when he 
was young and unknown. The selec¬ 
tion of Greene for the leader of the 
Southern campaign, in place of Gates, 
who had been chosen by Congress, 
turned a tide of disaster and made pos¬ 
sible the ultimate complete defeat of 
the British. 



AT WASHINGTON’S DEATH 


141 


585. Stuart’s Portraits. 

Gilbert Stuart came from England 
to America expressly to paint Wash¬ 
ington’s portrait, and an ample op¬ 
portunity was afforded him. Stuart 
says that “no human being ever awoke 
in him such a degree of reverence. 
For a moment he lost self-possession, 
and it required several interviews to 
overcome this difficulty.” He made 
two original portraits, of which one 
became the property of Lord Lans- 
downe and the other is in the Boston 
Atheneum. From these he painted 
twenty-six copies, which are now 
known as “Stuart’s originals,” and 
bear a high value. To these may be 
added the pictures by Pine and by 
Wertmuller, both of which are of less 
importance. 

586. Washington Receiving the 

Sacrament. 

When the Continental army was 
encamped at Morristown, New Jersey, 
in 1777, the Presbyterian church was 
converted into a hospital, and the con¬ 
gregation worshipped in the adjoining 
grove, with no covering but the sky. 

The pastor, Rev. Timothy Johnes, 
had the privilege of administering the 
Lord’s Supper there in the woods, on 
a certain Sabbath, to Washington 
and his generals. It may be contem¬ 
plated with profit by all. “The Fa¬ 
ther of His Country,” on whose shoul¬ 
ders then rested the liberties and 
destiny of this, yet to be, mighty 
nation, humbly acknowledging his 
divine Lord, in obedience to the com¬ 
mand, “This do in remembrance of 
me,” and seeking His superhuman aid 
in directing the great conflict to a 
successful termination! How devout, 
how humble, how sublime !—Religious 
T elescope. 

587. At Washington’s Death. 

When Washington died Napoleon 
Bonaparte, then the first consul of 


France, announced his death to his 
army, and ordered all the standards 
and flags throughout the nation to be 
bound with crepe for ten days; and, 
what was more significant, the great 
British fleet, lying off the English 
coast, placed its flags at half-mast. 

588. Washington’s Great Strength. 

“Pitching the bar” is a game of 
strength more than of skill, and is 
still played. Every boy remembers 
throwing the hammer at some field- 
day sports. In the time of Washing¬ 
ton the young men liked to play it, to 
see which was the better man. Charles 
Wilson Peale, the soldier-artist, tells 
how on one occasion, while visiting at 
Mount Vernon, a party of young fel¬ 
lows were out on the lawn one bright, 
sunny morning, trying their strength 
at it, when Washington suddenly ap¬ 
peared among them and, without taking 
off his coat, held out his hand to claim 
a trial with the bar. 

“No sooner,” wrote Peale, in de¬ 
scribing the incident, “did the heavy 
iron bar feel the grasp of his mighty 
hand than it lost the power of gravita¬ 
tion and whizzed through the air, 
striking the ground far, very far be¬ 
yond our utmost limits. We were 
indeed amazed as we stood around, all 
stripped to the buff, with shirt sleeves 
rolled up, and having thought ourselves 
very clever fellows. On retiring, 
Washington pleasantly observed : 
‘When you beat my pitch, young gen¬ 
tlemen, I’ll try again.’ ” 

589. “And So He Had.” 

While President the Father of His 
Country made a trip through New 
England. One day a postilion came 
up and said with an air of injured 
dignity : 

“Your excellency, as we were driv¬ 
ing along a little way back we over¬ 
took a man with a loaded cart who 




142 


WASHINGTON’S MODESTY 


occupied the entire road. I asked him 
to stop his team that we might pass 
by. He declined. I then told him 
that President Washington was in the 
chariot. He again refused and said 
that he would not stop; that he had 
as good a right to the road as George 
Washington had.” 

To which the great man replied 
simply, “And so he had.” 

590. Washington. 

Dear to his country in peace and in war, 
Loved and respected at home and afar, 
Ever to those whom he loved at his best, 
Faithful to God in the duties that test. 

Heroes may come and heroes may go. 

Much to their courage we ever shall owe, 
But in the national record of fame, 

All hearts are stirred at the sound of his 

name. — Z. I. Davis. 

591. Washington a Providential 

Gift. 

It was a manifestly wise and be¬ 
nign Providence that placed at the very 
beginning of our nationality and 
through the years of our experiment¬ 
ing at government the sobriety and 
sagacity, the soldiership and states¬ 
manship, the pure patriotism and de¬ 
cided Christian character of Wash¬ 
ington. He was courageous without 
rashness, a warrior without one sign 
of bravado. He combined in a pe¬ 
culiar manner a kindliness that evoked 
love and a dignity that held in respect¬ 
ful obedience. Perhaps somewhat cold 
in temperament, he gained, without 
seeking it, the warm affection of all 
classes by simple devotion and duty.— 
Rev. Denis Wortman, D.D. 

592. The Religion of Washington 

and Lincoln. 

Washington, in his Farewell Ad¬ 
dress, professed his faith in God, and 
in the necessity of the Nation’s having 
the same faith. These are his immortal 
words: 


“Let us with caution indulge the 
supposition, that Morality can be 
maintained without Religion. What¬ 
ever may be conceded to the influence 
of refined education on minds of pe¬ 
culiar structure—reason and experi¬ 
ence both forbid us to expect that 
National Morality can prevail in ex¬ 
clusion of Religious Principles.” 

Lincoln made no secret of his trust 
in the God of Men and Nations; nor 
of his prayer before Gettysburg; nor 
of his invitation to sundry godly men 
to pray with and for him as man and 
President. 

593. Washington’s Modesty. 

Washington would never have iden¬ 
tified effective citizenship with promi¬ 
nence. The citizen who was never 
mentioned in the news-letters might 
be quite as great as the General and 
President. At Ipswich, Mass., on one 
occasion, Mr. Cleaveland, the minister 
of the town, was presented to him. As 
he approached, hat in hand, Washing¬ 
ton said, “Put on your hat, parson, and 
I will shake hands with you.” “I 
cannot wear my hat in your presence, 
General,” said the minister, “when I 
think of what you have done for this 
country.” “You did as much as I,” 
said Washington. “No, no,” protested 
the parson. “Yes,” said Washington, 
“you did what you could, and I have 
done no more.” 

594. Washington’s Advice. 

On the fifteenth day of January, 
1783, Washington wrote a letter to his 
nephew in which he said: “Be cour¬ 
teous to all, but intimate with few; 
and let those few be well tried before 
you give them your confidence. True 
friendship is a plant of slow growth, 
and must undergo and withstand the 
shocks of adversity before it is en¬ 
titled to the appellation. 

“Let your heart feel for the affec¬ 
tions and the distresses of every one, 




WASHINGTON’S COURTESY 


143 


and let your hand give in proportion 
to your purse; remembering always 
the estimation of the widow’s mite; 
but that it is not every one who asketh 
that deserving charity; all, however, 
are worthy of the inquiry, or the de¬ 
serving may suffer 

“Do not conceive that fine clothes 
make fine men any more than fine 
feathers make fine birds. A plain, 
genteel dress is more admired and 
obtains more credit than lace and em¬ 
broidery in the eyes of judicious and 
sensible-minded persons.” 

595. Washington’s Courtesy. 

The courtesy that was Washington’s 
second nature could be imitated with 
profit by the rising generation. Walk¬ 
ing through the streets one day with a 
brother officer, Washington met a 
negro—a slave who lifted his hat to 
the General in passing. Washington 
immediately responded by raising his 
own. “What 1 ” said the brother officer 
“do you lift your hat to a nigger?” 
“Would you have me less polite than 
a negro slave?” was the General’s 
calm reply. It is said that Washing¬ 
ton was not only the kindest of mas¬ 
ters to his own slaves, but that he 
utterly repudiated the idea of slavery 
in principle. He once said he wished 


from his soul that his State might be 
persuaded to abolish slavery; adding 
with prophetic utterance, “it might 
prevent much future mischief.”— S. L. 
T enny. 

596. His Death. 

In nothing was Washington’s serv¬ 
ice greater to his country than in his 
splendid example of patriotism, so 
marked by piety, courage and prudence. 

When nearing the end of his life, 
when asked whether he desired any¬ 
thing, the great man responded with 
a smile, “I am certainly near the end, 
and I look forward to the hour of 
dissolution with perfect resignation.” 
Thus expired in peace, George Wash¬ 
ington, “the Father of his country,” 
“first in war, first in peace, and first 
in the hearts of his countrymen.”— 
M. R. Drury, D.D. 

597. Kindness to the Foe. 

After Cornwallis’s surrender at 
Yorktown, Washington said to his 
army: “My brave fellows, let no sen¬ 
sation of satisfaction for the triumphs 
you have gained induce you to insult 
your fallen enemy. Let no shouting, 
no clamorous huzzaing increase their 
mortification. It is sufficient for us 
that we witness their humiliation. Pos¬ 
terity will huzza for us,” 


VIII. LENT 

(Begins With Ash Wednesday and Ends Saturday Preceding 

Easter.) 


598. The Remedy. 

Not long ago our faithful chronom¬ 
eter, the clock, began to lose time. 
We tuned the regulator ahead. Again 
it lost time. We repeated the process, 
with the same result. By and by our 
forcing process was of no avail, and 
the clock stopped altogether. What 
the faithful timepiece needed was not 


stimulating, but cleaning. Our poor, 
worn, jaded social life needs the same 
redeeming process. We have tried 
every kind of stimulus and stimulant. 
We have multiplied our pleasures, 
made our amusements extravagant 
and fleshly, added to our games the 
zest of gambling, and in a thousand 
ways sought to satisfy a growing and 



144 


LENTEN SELF-DENIAL 


unnatural appetite by some new diver¬ 
sion that had in it no food for the 
intellect, and no inspiration for the 
soul. The machinery of our nobler 
spiritual manhood has refused, under 
this unnatural process, to do its work, 
and we need, as a people, to go to 
life’s great Timekeeper to have it 
cleaned and reset and started again 
into normal, healthy, wholesome ac¬ 
tion .—Dwight Mallory Pratt, D.D. 

599. Lenten Self-Denial. 

The will of God is a path leading 
straight to God. The will of man, 
which once ran parallel with it, is 
now another path, not only different 
from it, but, in our present state, 
directly contrary to it: it leads from 
God. If, therefore, we walk in the 
one, we must necessarily quit the other. 
We cannot walk in both. Indeed, a 
man of faint heart and feeble hands 
may go in two ways, one after the 
other; but he cannot walk in two 
ways at the same time—follow his 
own will, and follow the will of God: 
he must choose the one or the other; 
denying God’s will to follow his own, 
or denying himself to follow the will 
of God.— J. Wesley. 

600. Needless Self-Indulgence. 

Our lives are often enervated by 
needless self-indulgence. The Rev. 
Hugh Price Hughes tells a very in¬ 
teresting story, and makes a very 
sane comment on it in illustration. 
During his recent visit to Palestine, 
at one point, when he happened to be 
riding in the carriage, he had a strik¬ 
ing experience. “It was very hot, the 
sky was cloudless, the road was hard 
and white. Suddenly a Syrian, staff 
in hand, passed the carriage. Instantly 
I thought: ‘There, that poor man, 
with flowing robe and turbaned head 
and sandaled feet, is dressed just as 
my Lord was dressed two thousand 
years ago. When he came up, as he 


did come up, again and again, from 
Jericho to Jerusalem, he had to trudge 
through the heat on foot, as that poor 
fellow is trudging. And here I am— 
professedly a disciple of his—riding 
up this hill in a carriage and pair. 
How dare I ride where my Lord 
walked?’” He felt it so much that 
he stopped the driver, got out, and 
walked the rest of the way to Bethany. 
Commenting upon his action, Mr. 
Hughes says: “That sudden impres¬ 
sion was neither scriptural nor ra¬ 
tional. There is nothing in Chris¬ 
tianity that should lead any of us to 
decline the conveniences of life, pro¬ 
vided always that we use for the good 
of men any energy we conserve. But 
there was this point of truth in the 
emotions which filled my heart. We 
do exceedingly need greater simplicity 
of life among all who name the name 
of Christ. We are too self-indulgent 
and luxurious in these days.” 

601. Indulgences Compress. 

In a fable of the Magic Skin, it 
gave the wearer power to get any¬ 
thing he wanted, but every time he 
gratified his wishes, the skin shrank 
and compressed him into smaller di¬ 
mensions until, by and by, with the 
last wish, life itself Was crushed out. 
The magic skin is selfishness. It is a 
great thing to learn to say “No” to 
one’s self, instead of indulging every 
whim and wish, even though there be 
nothing sinful in it. There was no 
necessary wrong to Moses in his in¬ 
heriting the royal treasures and en¬ 
joying the pleasures of Egypt, so far 
as they were not in themselves sin¬ 
ful ; but Moses had a high vocation, 
and these would have been hindrances; 
so he renounced them.— A. T. Pierson, 
D.D. 

602. Slaves to Self. 

Alexander could conquer the le¬ 
gions of Persia; but he could not 



PRACTICING GOODNESS EENTEN DUTY 


145 


conquer his passions. Csesar tri¬ 
umphed in a hundred battles; but 
he fell a victim to the desire of being 
a king. Bonaparte vanquished nearly 
the whole of Europe; but he could 
not vanquish his own ambition. And 
in humbler life, nearer home, in our 
own every-day affairs, most of us are 
drawn aside from the path of duty 
and discretion, because we do not re¬ 
sist some temptation, or overcome 
some prejudice.— S. G. Goodrich. 

603. Victory Over Self. 

A man that is born a conqueror 
over his own corruptions and over 
himself, he is greater than ever was 
the greatest conqueror; and it is bet¬ 
ter to be made in this kind a victor 
over his own passions than to be 
universal emperor of all the world. 
Saith Seneca, There are many men 
that have subdued principalities, king¬ 
doms, cities, towns, and countries, and 
brought them under their own mas¬ 
tery; but there are few that have 
guided themselves, but still there is a 
tiger within them that disgraceth and 
obscureth their outward conquest by 
reason of four seethings and corrup¬ 
tion in their own flesh: therefore, for 
a man to get the victory, and to over¬ 
come himself, is to get the victory, 
and to overcome all the world; for 
man is a microcosm, a little world, as 
St. Austin saith.— Day. 

604. Practicing Goodness Lenten 

Duty. 

There is an old and pretty legend 
about a handsome youth whose name 
was Narcissus. This young man never 
saw anyone that he thought was beau¬ 
tiful until one day he went to an open 
fountain with waters as clear as the 
light. He stooped down to drink, and 
saw his own image, which he thought 
to be some beautiful water-spirit liv¬ 
ing in the fountain. He fell in love 
10 


with the image he saw—with himself. 
In vain he tried to kiss and embrace 
the beautiful spirit. He talked to it 
again and again, but met with no 
response. He could not break the 
fascination, and the story says that 
he pined away and died. 

Narcissus is only a mythical being, 
but many a real flesh and blood man 
has fallen in love with himself. Lots 
of people around us every day do the 
same thing. 

It is not a good thing to fall in love 
with self like that—a self that never 
helps another soul, but takes all it can 
get from everyone. 

Narcissus, and all other selfish peo¬ 
ple, make a great mistake. They look 
at the wrong self. There is a better 
way. Forget yourself and think of 
others. There is a self that it would 
do you good to love—the self that we 
might be with the help of Jesus—by 
living as Jesus would live. 

There is only one way to goodness 
of character, namely, by practicing 
goodness as Jesus reveals it to you. 

Practicing goodness is a Lenten 
duty; yes, an every day duty. 

605. Christ’s Love Draws. 

A man who had been converted 
from a sinful life gave this experience 
of his acceptance with Jesus: “I just 
crept to the feet of Jesus, and, greatly 
to my astonishment, He did not scold 
me—He knew I had been scolded 
enough; and He didn’t pity me; and 
He didn’t give me any advice either. 
He knew I had had plenty of that. 
He just put His arms around my leek 
and loved me. And when the sun 
arose I was a new man.”— Rev. H. O. 
Harbaugh. 

606. Win One. 

Julia Ward Howe once wrote to an 
eminent Senator of the United States 
in behalf of a man who was suffering 
great injustice. He replied, “I am so 



146 


SALVATION AT COST 


much taken up with plans for the 
benefit of the race that I have not 
time for individuals.” She pasted this 
in her album, with this comment. 
“When last heard from, our Master 
had not reached this attitude.” 

If we have no interest in individ¬ 
uals, says an exchange, in this con¬ 
nection, then we have no real interest 
in Christ, and he who waits till he can 
save many souls will never save one. 

607. Power in Christ. 

When Munkacsy’s picture “Christ 
before Pilate,” was on exhibition in 
the lower part of Canada, a rough¬ 
looking man came to the door of the 
tent and said, “Is Jesus Christ 
here?” When informed that the pic¬ 
ture was there, he asked the price of 
admission. Throwing down a piece of 
silver, he passed in and stood in the 
presence of the masterpiece. He kept 
his hat on, sat down on the chair 
before the painting and brushed off 
the catalogue. The one having the 
picture in charge had a desire to see 
how such a picture would move such 
a man. The man sat for a moment, 
and then reverently removed his hat, 
stooped and picked up the catalogue, 
and looked first at it and then at that 
marvelous face, while tears rolled 
down his cheeks. He sat there for 
an hour, and when he left, he said: 
“I am a rough sailor from the lakes, 
but I promised my mother before I 
went on this last cruise that I would 
go and see Jesus Christ. I never be¬ 
lieved in such things before, but a 
man who could paint a picture like 
that must believe in the man, and he 
makes me believe in Him, too.” It is 
a marvelous thing that there is power 
in a canvas when touched by a master- 
hand to save a soul. It is also mar¬ 
velous that your life and mine may be 
so transformed that people can see in 
us Jesus Christ.— Rev. C. F. Butter¬ 
field. 


608. Getting Our Voices. 

There was a king of Lydia in olden 
times who had a son who had the 
misfortune to be totally dumb. The 
prince dwelt in the splendid court of 
his father, unable to utter a word. 
Then came dreadful misfortunes. The 
Persian fought the Lydians, and 
Croesus was overthrown. A soldier 
was about to kill the unhappy mon¬ 
arch, of whose rank he vas not aware, 
before the eyes of his son. In that 
moment of horror, fear and love did 
what human skill had not done. “Spare 
him; he is the king!” cried the prince. 
His effort to ^ave his father had burst 
the string which tied his tongue. If 
we were as anxious to snatch others 
from eternal death as this poor prince 
was to save his father we should find 
that we too could speak; we should 
no longer be silent on the subjects of 
heaven and hell. 

609. Salvation at Cost. 

We are told in these days that if 
one is really a Christian the fact will 
show itself in his every-day living, 
and no statement is truer. 

In the meetings conducted by one 
of our evangelists in a Texas city, a 
man definitely gave himself to Jesus 
Christ, then he said to his minister: 
“This will cost me something. I have 
a number of houses in this city used 
not only as saloons but as places of 
questionable resort. They have netted 
me a handsome income, but from to¬ 
night, with God’s help I will give the 
whole thing up.” The next morning 
he placed all his real estate in the 
hands of an agent, and said: “You 
must dispose of it for I have become 
a Christian and under no circumstances 
would I ever again do a thing that 
would so dishonor Christ.”— Rev. J. 
Wilbur Chapman, D.D. 

610. “Ho, Every One.” 

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’s phrase, 

“The Gates Ajar” doesn’t do justice 



BLOOD IN SCIENCE AND SALVATION 


147 


to the wide-open love and mercy of 
my Father’s house of many mansions. 

One of the poets makes us sing: 

“Wondrous love! O, can it be 
The gate of heaven’s ajar for me?” 

Isaiah fifty-five is not a gate “ajar.” 
I remember how at one of the great 
State Christian Endeavor conventions 
I attended, in an immense skating- 
rink, the waiting crowd in front filled 
the sidewalk and the street, singing 
gospel hymns to pass away the time 
until the doors should swing open. And, 
when the ushers opened the doors, it 
was found that they stuck at the bot¬ 
tom, and would not swing back far 
enough. And the crowd was choked 
in the entrance until some one cried, 
“Take those doors off their hinges; 
lift them right up!” 

And a dozen pairs of strong hands 
seized the obstructing doors; and they 
were raised aloft, right off the butt 
hinges, and set aside, and with a shout 
of delight the eager throng swept in. 

If Isaiah found the “gates ajar,” he 
lifted them off their hinges, in this 
wonderful chapter, and set them in 
the corner. Isaiah fifty-five might be 
called the “Ho, every one” chapter.— 
Rev . John F. Cowan, D.D. 

611. Crisis Moments in the Spirit¬ 
ual Life. 

There are critical hours that come 
into every life. Some of these have 
to do with worldly matters. “There 
is a tide in the affairs of men which, 
taken at its flood, leads on to for¬ 
tune.” If the astronomer wishes to 
see the transit of Venus, after his 
months of preparation there comes a 
critical hour when he must not sleep, 
but be awake and alert and watchful. 
There often comes a critical hour in 
sickness, as in a fever, when the life 
of the patient depends on the watch¬ 
fulness of the nurse and faithfulness 
in the administration of medicine. 

But let us not forget that there are 


critical hours in spiritual matters also. 
This is especially true in the matter 
of the soul’s salvation. One may be 
very near to the kingdom of God and 
yet not in it.— H. 

612. Blind Eyes Opened. 

A little boy was born blind. At 
last an operation was performed; the 
light was let in slowly. Then one day 
his mother led him out of doors and 
uncovered his eyes, and for the first 
time he saw the sky and the earth. 
“Mother,” he cried, “why did you not 
tell me it was so beautiful?” She 
burst into tears as she said, “I tried 
to tell you, dear, but you could not 
understand me.” So it is when we 
try to tell what is in Christ. Unless 
the spiritual sight is opened by the 
Holy Spirit, one cannot understand.— 
The Sunday School Chronicle. 

613. Blood in Science and Salvation. 

It is known in chemistry that scarlet 
and crimson colors are ineradicable. 
They never wear out or fade away; 
but, with Christ’s blood, “though your 
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
white as snow; though they be red 
like crimson, they shall be as wool.” 
In science, blood is a bleacher; in 
medicine, by the transfusion of blood, 
a dying person recovers his life, for 
there is life in the blood. Therefore, 
it is not strange that, in the higher 
realm, the sinsick soul partakes of the 
divine nature through the blood of 
Jesus, so that he exclaims, “I live, yet 
not I, but Christ liveth in me.” 

614. Christian, Be Watchful. 

A recent writer describes the 
strange alluring splendor of the beds 
of anemones which cover the floors of 
some Western seas. These gaudy, 
dainty flowers appear like blossoms 
from the garden of Paradise, so bril¬ 
liantly colored are they. Yet, in fact, 
they are cruel, devouring monsters, for 
let a poor fish only touch them, and a 




148 


HUMAN LADDERS 


thousand poisoned threadlets dart out, 
seize the victim, and in a moment he 
is consumed by the innocent-looking 
blossom. So, under the secret attrac¬ 
tions of much of our social commer¬ 
cial and religious life, there are deadly 
snares, and destructions, that lie in 
wait for the unwary. Many a fair¬ 
looking friendship, festivity and recre¬ 
ation hold a peril striking at the soul. 
We need the Divine wisdom to pre¬ 
serve us, for things are not what they 
seem.— Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman, D.D. 

615. Instant Decision. 

A young woman once refused to 
come to the Saviour, saying, “There 
is too much to give up.” “Do you 
think God loves you?” “Certainly.” 
“How much do you think He loves 
you ?” 

She thought a moment and answered 
“Enough to give His Son to die for 
me.” “Do you think if God loved 
you, He will ask you to give up any¬ 
thing it is for your good to keep?” 
“No.” “Do you wish to keep any¬ 
thing that is not for your good to 
keep?” “No” 

“Then you had better come to Christ 
at once.” And she did. 

616. Standing Between. 

A Christian worker in the moun¬ 
tains of Kentucky -was visiting the 
penitentiary. There he found a man 
imprisoned on the charge of murder. 
He tried to reach his heart with the 
gospel story, but seemingly without 
avail. On one visit the man spoke of 
his little boy. The evangelist saw his 
opportunity. “My brother,” said he, 
“what would you be willing to do for 
that child of yours?” The rugged 
mountaineer’s eyes flashed. With 
tremendous intensity he answered, 
“Mister, I’d stand between that boy 
and hell 1” “Well, my brother,” 
quietly replied the other, “that is ex¬ 
actly what Jesus has done for you.” 

Do you want to know what salva¬ 


tion means—the mystery of Christ’s 
substitution. There you have it. Eet 
Him be your Saviour.— H. 

617. He Will Have Mercy. 

The daughter of a poor widow had 
left her mother’s cottage. Led astray 
by others, she had forsaken the Guide 
of her youth and forgotten the cove¬ 
nant of her God. Fervent, believing 
prayer was the mother’s only resource, 
nor was it in vain. Touched by a 
sense of sin, and anxious to regain the 
peace she had lost, late one night the 
daughter returned home. It was mid¬ 
night, and she was surprised to find 
the door unlatched. But she was told 
in the fulness of a mother’s heart. 
ft Never, my child, by night, nor by 
day, has that door been fastened since 
you left. I believed you would come 
back some day, and I was unwilling 
to keep you waiting for a single 
moment.” 

“For thou, Lord, art good, and 
ready to forgive, and plenteous in 
mercy unto all them that call upon 
Thee.” Christ is as willing to re¬ 
ceive you, as this poor mother was to 
receive her daughter. 

618. Return, Ye Backsliders. 

“My people are bent on backsliding 
from me.” Slipping away from God 
is caused by not drawing close to Him. 
A little girl fell out of bed. When 
asked why, she replied, “I went to 
sleep too near the place I got in.” 

619. Human Ladders. 

The story is told that one time the 
parsonage of Epworth, England, 
burned. The minister thought all his 
family were safe, when one of the 
children appeared at a window crying 
to be saved. Peasants made a ladder 
of themselves by standing one upon 
the other’s shoulders, and the boy 
came to safety in this way. That boy 
was John Wesley. Think of it—a 
ladder to save a boy for such a work 



ENLISTING FOR CHRIST 


149 


as Wesley did in the world. Probably 
those peasants enjoyed telling, in after 
years, how they saved him. Now any¬ 
one who helps to save a soul for God 
has had the same privilege those men 
had. 

620. Count On Me. 

A college student who was uninter¬ 
ested in art, was once persuaded by 
his mother to visit an art gallery to 
view the painting of the “Man of 
Galilee.” After viewing it from every 
angle, an attendant who had observed 
how earnestly and with what great in¬ 
terest he had studied the picture, said 
to him—“Great picture, isn’t it?”—Yes, 
it is a great picture and is well named 
the “Man of Galilee.” 

Then the student again softly 
stepped up to the painting and said, “Oh 
man of Galilee, if I can, in any way, 
help you to do your work in the world, 
you can count on me”—“count on me.” 

May there be a response in our 
hearts as we look to the Christ. Will 
He be able to count on us? 

621. How to Become a Christian. 

A little girl was playing in her yard 
when she fell down a cistern. Her 
mother, who was near, quickly rescued 
her. Narrating her experience to a 
young friend, she was heard to say, in 
response to a question whether she 
was not frightened: “No, indeed; 
mamma told me to put my hands up 
as far as I could, and she reached 
down and did the rest.” That is all 
God requires of us—to reach up the 
hands of faith as far as we can, and 
leave Him to complete His perfect 
work. 

622. Enlisting For Christ. 

One Sunday afternoon I had a service 
for a great crowd of men about eight 
miles from the front line. They were 
moving that day to the front lines to 
go into battle. I had tried to get 
some War Roll Cards, but there were 


none in that section. I had only one 
left in my pocket. After talking to 
the men, and singing for them, I told 
them about the War Roll Card. Then 
I told the Captain in charge of these 
men that I would give him the one I 
had, and any fellow who wanted to do 
so could make a copy of it, sign it, 
and we would be glad to send it in 
for him. The Captain took the little 
card, looked it over, took me off to 
one side and said, “Mr. Rodeheaver, 
if you don’t mind, I’d like to sign 
this card myself. I have a wife and 
two babies back in the southland, and 
a dear old father and mother there. 
They all belong to the Church—they 
have always wanted me to join them, 
but, like so many men, I have simply 
put it off. I am going into battle 
to-morrow, and of course we never 
know what is going to happen. I 
would like to have the folks at home 
to have the satisfaction of knowing 
that I accepted this proposition and 
signed this War Roll Card.” 

That was the feeling of thousands of 
men in France who had no chance of 
signing a War Roll Card .—Homer A. 
Rodeheaver. 

623. Only Two Choices. 

Said an old salt to the young appren¬ 
tice: “Aboard a man ’o war, my lad, 
there’s only two choices. One’s duty; 
t’other’s mutiny.”— Rev. A. S. Wood - 
burne. 

624. Christ Depended On for Sal¬ 

vation. 

In a factory where delicate fabrics 
were woven, when the threads at any 
time became tangled the operatives 
were required to press a button and 
the superintendent would appear to 
rectify things. On one occasion, how¬ 
ever, though a young girl had just a 
little while before touched the button 
for assistance, a woman who was an 
old hand at the work thought she 
“knew,” and could get along without 



IMMEDIATE, DECISION 


150 


this formality. The threads became 
inextricably mixed, and much dam¬ 
age ensued. To the superintendent 
she said, “I did my best.” To which 
he replied, “Doing your best is send¬ 
ing for me.” Doing our best is de¬ 
pending on Christ. Ask Him to save 
you. Ask Him to help you. Ask Him 
to empower you. Doing your best is 
depending on Christ.— H. 

625. Whom Christ Receives. 

A woman once came to Mr. Moody 
and said: “Mr. Moody, I would like' 
to become a Christian, but I am so 
hard-hearted.” He replied: “My good 


woman, did the Master say: ‘You 
soft-hearted people, come?’ Nothing 
of the kind. He said: ‘Come unto 
me’—all black hearts, vile hearts, 
corrupt hearts, deceitful hearts—‘all.’ 
If your heart is hard, who will soften 
it? You can’t. The harder the heart 
the more need there is for the Saviour; 
so come along and get rest. If you 
can’t come as a saint, come as a sin¬ 
ner; if you can’t run, walk; if you 
can’t walk, creep to Him; but come.” 

The woman saw the force of 
Moody’s words, and went away much 
comforted. In a few days she gave 
her hard heart to Christ. 


IX. DECISION DAY 

(Usually Observed in Lent, Shortly Before Easter.) 


“Decision Day” is the day when an 
earnest effort is made to induce every 
unsaved person to accept Christ, and 
may be observed in the Sunday School, 
the Young People’s Society, or in the 
church itself as a whole. If observed 
in the Sunday School the effort will 
be made to reach the scholars of the 
various classes who have not yet made 
an open confession of Christ; if in 
the Young People’s Society, special at¬ 
tention will be given to the associate 
members; if in the church as a whole, 
the effort will be made to touch the 
whole community. The day is usu¬ 
ally observed in February or March, 
during the Lenten season. 

626. When He Answered. 

A teacher in a mission school in 
Africa had just explained the parable 
of the king who invited people to his 
feast. One of the large boys said he 
wanted to follow Jesus, and the little 
boy said the same. “Have you felt 
for some time that Jesus has been 
calling you?” asked the teacher. “Oh, 
no; it is only to-day; but I listened 


right off when he called,” was the 
sincere answer. 

That is the time to answer, when 
you hear the call. Do it promptly. 
Do it at once. Accept the first offer. 
—H. 

627. The Desert Gospel. 

“The Spirit and the bride say, Come. 
And he that heareth, let him say, 
Come. And he that is athirst, let 
him come: he that will, let him take 
the water of life freely.” In the 
deserts, when caravans are in want 
of water, they send a rider some 
distance ahead; then, after a little 
space, another follows; and then at a 
short distance another. As soon as 
the first finds water, before he stoops 
to drink, he shouts aloud, “Come!” 
The next one repeats the word, 
“Come!” So the shout is passed along 
until the whole wilderness echoes with 
the word “Come!” The whole Bible 
echoes with the word “Come.”— H. 

628. Immediate Decision. 

I was taught a simple lesson by an 
old woman when we were in Scotland. 



CONFESS BECAUSE OF GRATITUDE 


151 


Mark had been preaching, and when 
he came down from the pulpit he saw 
this dear old woman with a bright 
face, and he asked whether she was a 
Christian. “Oh, yes,” she replied 
boldly. And her boldness led Mark 
to suppose she had been one some time. 
So he continued: “How long have 
you been a Christian?” “Oh, just since 
you have been preaching.” Wonderful 
decision of soul! She saw the truth 
and grasped it at once. How much we 
lose by not making a promise our own 
the moment the Spirit illuminates it 
to us! Oh, let us live up to the light 
we receive, and make instant decision 
of soul as soon as we see the truth! 

629. Come All. 

A lawyer serving on a draft board 
had occasion to help a young immi¬ 
grant man fill out his questionnaire. 
He explained that as an alien he was 
entitled to claim exemption. The 
young man straightened himself, and 
with a high look replied: “When I 
came to America, I came all. If 
America needs Karl Klausen, Karl 
Klausen is ready!” Shall we not do 
as much for Christ—“come all”? 

630. The Father’s Telegram. 

I read the other day that a father 
in Watford last year was greatly 
troubled about his son, who had gone 
wrong and was ill and despondent. 
The boy wrote to the father trem¬ 
blingly and fearfully, as if to ask 
whether there was any hope. The 
father sent a telegram to him, and 
the telegram consisted of one word; 
the one word was “Home,” and it was 
signed “Father.” Now the Gospel of 
our Lord Jesus Christ is God’s tele¬ 
gram to the sinful world, summed up 
in one word, “Home,” and signed by 
one name, “Father.” 

631. Witnessing. 

Miss Havergal tells of going away 
to a boarding school shortly after she 


joined the church. When she entered 
the school she found that she was the 
only Christian among one hundred 
girls. Her first feeling was that she 
could not confess Christ before gay 
and wordly companions. Then the 
thought came, “I am the only one He 
has here.” The thought strengthened, 
and she was rewarded for her cour¬ 
age .—Sunday School Chronicle. 

632. Silent Partners. 

Many business firms have what are 
called silent partners. These partners 
are interested in the firm, but they 
do not work for it, do not come to 
business, and very often are not 
known to the public at all. A business 
man once came to a preacher and said 
that he wished to become a Christian, 
but he wished to be a silent partner, 
that is, he did not wish any one to 
know that he was a Christian. The 
preacher said that Jesus has no silent 
partners. If one comes to Him it must 
be openly. We must confess Him, 
tell others that we belong to Him, and 
work for Him.— Rev. R. P. Anderson. 

633. Confess Because of Gratitude. 

It is told of one of the children in a 
New York Hospital, who had been 
under the care of one nurse for a long 
time, that when the little fellow found 
out that he was to go home cured, he 
put his arm around the neck of the 
nurse and said softly in her ear: 

“My mama will never hear the last 
of you.” 

Let us confess Christ out of grati¬ 
tude for his saving work for us. 

634. An Avowed Christian. 

An automobile bears upon its hub 
the name of the firm that made it. 
Wherever the automobile goes it car¬ 
ries the reputation of its maker. It 
does not need to talk; every mile it 
makes writes a new advertisement a 
mile long. So as soon as a man takes 
upon him the name of Jesus Christ, 



152 


A GENTLE CALL 


every good deed he does is an adver¬ 
tisement of Jesus Christ, whether he 
says anything about religion or not, 
just because it was done by an 
avowed Christian.— Rev. R. P. Ander¬ 
son. 

635. Mistaking God. 

The story is told of a small boy, 
whose mother had told him he must 
not walk on the lawn as the police¬ 
man would get him. A little later his 
mother told him he must not shout 
and whistle on Sunday, as the Lord 
would not like it. And then the little 
boy said, “Mother, what a good time 
I could have if it were not for the 
policeman and the Lord.” A great 
many people are like this boy, and 
think if they served the Lord it would 
take away all their enjoyment in life. 
They do not realize that “his ways are 
ways of pleasantness and all his paths 
are peace.” 

636. Last Call. 

There is a pathos in the last of any 
series, and especially when it has 
involved anything worth while. The 
athlete is familiar with “Casey at the 
Bat,”—score tied, bases full, and two 
men out. The traveller is familiar 
with “The Last Call to Dinner” given 
with portorial eloquence. The bargain 
hunter is familiar with the auctioneer’s 
“Fair warning—last call.” The “go, 
going, gone” is an every day experi¬ 
ence. There is such a thing as a last 
call in religion. 

637. A Gentle Call. 

Sometimes the Christian life begins 
very simply, especially with the young. 
Among those who have been under 
good influences in the home, the church, 
the Bible-school and have been living 
sweet and gentle lives, free from 
grosser forms of evil, it is unreason¬ 
able to expect any violent “experience” 
or marked change in manner of living. 
Failing to recognize this fact, many 


parents continue to wrestle with the 
Lord in prayer for the conversion of 
their children long after that change 
has really taken place; while the chil¬ 
dren and young people themselves, on 
account of the same mistaken impres¬ 
sion, continue long in strong efforts 
and deep unsatisfied longings to become 
Christians after God has indeed ac¬ 
cepted them and they are actually 
living devotedly in His service. 

It is well for us all to recognize how 
simply and quietly the Christian life 
sometimes begins. 

A thoughtful girl of sixteen years, 
living in the country at a distance from 
the church, which made attendance ir¬ 
regular, read, on a Sunday, the memoir 
of a Christian woman. On closing the 
volume, she said to herself, “That was 
a beautiful life.” After a little 
thought, she added, “And I should like 
to live such a life.” A few minutes 
later, she kneeled down and said, 
“Lord, I will try from this time.” 
The decision was made. She went on 
steadily, and is still a useful and in¬ 
fluential Christian woman, honored 
and beloved, and widely known for her 
beautiful and devout character.— H. 

638. “I Couldn’t Leave Him.” 

“What else could I do?” So said 
a frail young girl of seventeen. 

The home of this young heroine, 
Miss Esther Fuller, is in Corpus 
Christi, Texas. The flood came in the 
fall of 1919, and she and her brother, 
a lad of eleven, found themselves in 
the water. The boy became uncon¬ 
scious, and for five hours before being 
rescued the girl swam about in the 
surging waters, supporting her little 
brother. Happily her favorite sport 
had been swimming, according to the 
account in the newspapers. 

“I couldn’t leave him, could I?” 
was the expression of the girl when 
her heroic conduct was being com¬ 
mended. 

What a motto for those who are 



A DIVER’S DECISION 


153 


seeking to win others for their Master’s 
service! 

Those who endeavor to “rescue the 
perishing” will find that the Lord will 
provide strength for their task. Pluck- 
ily and hopefully they may continue 
their labor of love. Unfaltering faith 
in the saving Christ leads the Chris¬ 
tian worker to exclaim, “I couldn’t 
leave him, could I?” Because of such 
holy daring many have been reclaimed 
from the ways of sin.— Rev. W. J. 
Hart, D.D. 

639. A Diver’s Decision. 

A professional diver has in his home 
two oyster shells with a piece of 
printed paper fastened between them. 
While diving one day, he observed at 
the bottom of the sea an oyster on a 
rock with this paper in its mouth. He 
detached the oyster, and held the 
paper close to the goggles of his head¬ 
dress and in reading it found it to be 
a little Gospel tract earnestly calling 
upon whosoever should read it to re¬ 
pent at once and give his heart to God. 
He said, “I cannot hold out any longer 
against God’s mercy since it pursues 
me thus.” And down there at the bot¬ 
tom of the sea, he repented and 
breathed out his heart to God in 
prayer. —From the “Fisherman and 
His Friends.” 

640. The Riveted Nail. 

A laboring man, converted after a 
period of deep conviction, said to those 
around him, “Boys, what’s the biggest 
wonder you ever saw?” He repeated 
his question, and then said, “Oh, isn’t 
it to see an old grey-haired sinner like 
me saved at the eleventh hour? Oh, 
you are young—you are in the early 
hours of life’s day! Come, it’s far 
easier for you to get saved now than 
if you wait as I did. Oh, sin’s a nail 
the devil drives into the heart; and 
when it gets riveted it’s hard to pull 
out.” 


641. Give Christ Your Influence. 

I know a young man who confessed 
Christ, and within a week his example 
and influence were instrumental in 
leading eighteen young men to do the 
same thing. 

In the battle of life many a one falls 
because he cannot see the colors; be¬ 
cause there is no one near to reinforce 
his failing courage; no one whose 
clear, strong convictions make the 
truth seem truer, and right more 
righteous, and Jesus Christ more real. 
He who tries to serve Christ secretly 
is robbing the world of a certain in¬ 
fluence which it sadly needs. 

“Let the redeemed of the Lord say 
so,” then, for their own sakes, for the 
sake of the unredeemed, but above all, 
for the sake of the Redeemer.— Rev. 
Howard W. Pope. 

642. We Are Recruiting Officers. 

During the war, some Canadian of¬ 
ficers, commanding various units, 
adopted the following method in an 
effort to bring their battalions up to 
the required strength for over-sea 
service: 

They turned their entire battalions 
loose for three days, having instructed 
the men to hunt up their relatives, 
their chums, and their acquaintances, 
in an effort to get them to enlist. The 
results were splendid, and the battal¬ 
ions were quickly brought up to full 
strength. 

Do we realize that as soon as we en¬ 
list in the army of King Jesus He im¬ 
mediately commissions us as recruiting 
officers to bring our relatives, friends, 
and acquaintances into His Kingdom 
and service? And do we realize, too, 
that He expects us to engage in this 
work not simply for three days, but 
for life?— Rev. T. DeCourcy Rayner. 

643. Let’s Go Get Him. 

“A few days ago, I was talking with 
an unhappy, mentally groping veteran 
of the A. E. F.,” says R. D. Henkel, 



154 


THE TOUCH OE A HAND 


“He was one of the last contingent to 
return from overseas : ‘I’ve been away 
a couple o’ years,’ he said, ‘and I got 
a kinda new perspective. Before I 
went away I thought things in this 
old country of ours were just about 
right; never could be improved on. 
But now I get worried. I know you 
will say I have been over there so long 
I got the European angle and am just 
copying them when they say: 

“ ‘ “All the Yankees think about is 
money.” But ain’t that pretty much 
right? Hit most any of the folks 
here at home in the pocketbook and 
you hit a mighty tender spot. What 
they need most is a little more of the 
spirit of the boys who did the job in 
France: you know, “Hey, fellows, 
there’s a buddy out there in trouble. 
Let’s go get him.” And you went, re¬ 
gardless of Jerry. I’ve been in 
churches since I got back, morning 
and evening, and I’ve heard some 
good sermons, but not one of them 
showed me the congregation was sittin’ 
up listening for the whisper to “Let’s 
go get him.” ’ ” 

This boy was measuring the folks at 
home by the standards of unselfish de¬ 
votion to comrades that are brought 
out on the battlefield. But was he so 
far wrong? A new sense of respon¬ 
sibility is spreading through the 
Church and through the devoted mem¬ 
bers of the Church. With awakened 
consciousness of this responsibility is 
coming a demand that it be manfully 
shouldered and that each member shall 
become instinct with the “Let’s go get 
him” spirit.— H. 

644. Serious Things To-morrow. 

Many ages ago a Greek nobleman 
made a feast for his friends. In the 
midst of his mirth a messenger en¬ 
tered in great haste with a letter. It 
was from a distance, to tell him that 
a plot had been formed by his enemies 
to kill him that night. “My lord,” 
said the messenger, “my master de¬ 


sired me to say that you must read 
the letter without delay, for it is 
about serious things.” “Serious things 
to-morrow,” said the nobleman, as he 
threw the letter aside, and took up his 
cup of wine. The delay was fatal. 
Before the feast was at an end, his 
enemies rushed into the hall and slew 
him. 

645. The Touch of a Hand. 

Some rude children in Madagascar 
were one day calling out, “A leper 1 
A leper!” to a poor woman who had 
lost all her fingers and toes by the 
dread disease. A missionary lady who 
was near by put her hand on the wom¬ 
an’s shoulder and asked her to sit down 
on the grass by her. The woman fell 
sobbing, overcome by emotion, and 
cried out, “A human hand has touched 
me! For seven years no one has 
touched me.” The missionary says 
that in that moment it flashed across 
her mind why it is recorded in the 
Gospels that Jesus touched the leper. 
That is just what others would not 
do. It was the touch of sympathy as 
well as of healing power. 

646. The Age of Conversion. 

The testimony of one thousand con¬ 
verted Sunday school scholars in the 
United States, Great Britain and Can¬ 
ada : 128 scholars converted at age 

of from eight to twelve years. Three 
hundred and ninety-two scholars con¬ 
verted at age of from thirteen to six¬ 
teen years. Three hundred and twenty- 
two scholars converted at age of from 
seventeen to twenty years. One hun¬ 
dred and eighteen scholars converted 
at age of from twenty-one to twenty- 
four years. Forty scholars converted 
at age of from twenty-five to sixty 
years. Fifty-two per cent, by age of 
sixteen. Eighty-four per cent, by age 
of twenty. Ninety-six per cent, by 
age of twenty-four. Four per cent, 
at older age. 



PAST REDEMPTION POINT 


155 


647. Not too Young to Be Christ’s. 

A little girl about ten years of age 
came to my house one night after 
school. She was seeking the Saviour, 
and told me how, for three nights, 
she had been afraid to sleep, feeling 
the weight of her sins, and from her 
constant weeping while with me I 
knew what deep distress that little 
soul had been in. Very simply I told 
her of Him who had died in her place 
and for her sins, and with a new light 
and a happy joy in her face she said, 
“Oh, I see it all now.” The next day, 
meeting her mother, I told of her little 
girl’s conversion, and her remark was, 
“I thought she was too young to be 
thinking of such things.” 

648. “I Want You.” 

A touching incident has been told of 
a sixteen-year-old girl who was a 
chronic invalid, and whose mother was 
a pleasure-loving woman who could 
not endure the idea of being much with 
her shut-in daughter. While the 
mother was travelling abroad in Italy, 
she remembered the coming birthday 
of her daughter, and sent her a rare 
and wonderful Italian vase. The 
trained nurse brought it to the girl, 
saying that her mother had sent it so 
carefully that it came right on her 
birthday. After looking at its beauty 
for a moment the girl turned to the 
nurse and said: “Take it away, take it 
away. O mother, mother, do not send 
me anything more; no books, no 
flowers, no vases, no pictures. Send 
me no more. I want you, you!” 

Don’t give Christ things—only 
things. He wants you. “Son, daugh¬ 
ter, give me thy heart.” That daugh¬ 
ter wanted her mother. She wanted 
her presence, her companionship, her 
love. Christ wants you. He wants 
you first of all. He wants your 
yielded heart, your confidence, your 
trust, your union with Him. He wants 
your love, prompting you to give the 
best possibilities you have. He says, 


“I want you, you.” Your heart fully 
given, He knows all else will follow. 
— H. 

649. Past Redemption Point. 

We do not know just when our chil¬ 
dren may reach the point of responsi¬ 
bility. It is said that in the Niagara 
River there is one point called “Past 
Redemption Point,” and that if one 
reaches and passes this place, he is 
hurried on to the Rapids and the 
chances are all against his life being 
saved. We do not know what age our 
children may pass this point in their 
lives. 

This being true, it is wise for us to 
present Christ to them as a Saviour 
very early in their lives. It is said 
that the cannon ball passing through 
a four-foot bore of the cannon re¬ 
ceives its impulse for the whole 
course it is to travel. And the state¬ 
ment has been made that the Catholic 
authorities have said: “If you will 
give us your children for the first nine 
years of their lives, you can never 
win them away from us.” It is there¬ 
fore doubtless true that many a child 
receives impressions before he is ten 
years of age that determine the whole 
course of his after life. What an 
awful responsibility not to present 
Christ to him as Saviour and keeper. 

The history of the church proves 
that many of those who have been the 
real pillars in the house of God came 
to an acceptance of Christ before the 
age of twelve years. So, whatever 
may be our individual opinion concern¬ 
ing the conversion of children, God 
has set his approval on the work and 
has said: “Suffer the little children to 
come unto Me, and forbid them not, 
for of such is the Kingdom of heaven.” 
— Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman, D.D. 

650. Without Struggle. 

Spurgeon once set the way of sal¬ 
vation very simply before a young 
woman. She was a long time in grasp- 




LIFT THEM INTO SAFETY 


156 


mg the truth, but when she did, and joy- 
filled her heart, she exclaimed, “I 
never thought that people could find 
peace in this wayl I always believed 
that one must almost go to hell to get 
to heaven .”—United Methodist. 

651. What Led Him to Jesus. 

Dr. R. A. Torry tells a beautiful 
story of a man in Chicago, who had 
a sweet little daughter. He loved 
her dearly, but God took that little 
child away from him. The house was 
so lonely that he was so angry against 
God that he went up and down in 
his room into the night cursing God 
for having robbed him of his child. 
At last thoroughly worn out, and in 
great bitterness of spirit, he threw 
himself on his bed. He dreamed he 
stood beside a river. Across the river 
in the distance he heard the singing 
of such voices as he had never listened 
to before. Then he saw in the distance 
beautiful little girls coming toward 
him, nearer and nearer, until at last 
at the head of the company he saw his 
own little girl. She stood on the brink 
of the river and called across, “Come 
over here, father.” That overcame his 
bitterness; he accepted Jesus and pre¬ 
pared to go over yonder where his 
sweet child had gone. 

652. The Way to Win Hearts. 

The way to win hearts is to show 
kind attention and utter kind senti¬ 
ments. “You have called me brother!” 
cried the Russian beggar radiantly, 
who had just begged of Tolstoi with¬ 
out receiving anything. “I am sorry, 
my brother,” said Tolstoi, “but I do 
not have a single copeck about me.” 
“You have given me more than I asked 
for,” was the joyous answer. “I 
asked for a few coins, and you have 
called be brother .”—Pilgrim Teacher. 

653. An Earnest Pastor. 

In one school in Pennsylvania the 
pastor himself had secured the names 


of seventy-five of the scholars who had 
not accepted Christ, and with all the 
teachers on their knees he read over 
these names one by one until he could 
read no more, because of the sobs of 
those who filled the room, and he told 
me when the results were tabulated 
that he did not believe there was one 
of the seventy-five that had not taken 
a stand for Christ.— J. W. Chapman, 
D.D. 

654. Lift Them Into Safety. 

A little child fell from the path 
into the canal. A young woman, who 
alone saw the child, ran, threw herself 
upon the wall, and grasped the child’s 
arm. She had not sufficient strength 
to lift him to the walk. Her utmost 
energy was taxed to keep his head 
above the water. For more than 
twenty minutes was she in this position, 
when a man heard her cry and raised 
the child to a place of safety. Yet 
the village, when the incident became 
known, applauded and honored the girl 
as the rescuer. Teacher, if you first 
succeed in keeping those boys’ lives 
above the engulfing current of sen¬ 
suality and vice by your utmost en¬ 
deavors, some pastor or evangelist may 
come along and lift them into safety, 
and the community may call them his 
converts, but some day in heaven you 
shall be acknowledged as the rescuer of 
their lives .—Forest B. Dager, D.D. 

655. Child Members. 

The little son of a distinguished 
minister came to him one day to say 
that he wanted to become a member 
of the church. His father thought he 
knew the boy and said to him: “My 
son, you may not just understand what 
it means to join the church.” The 
child, however, assured hirn that he 
did. Finally, the father persuaded him 
to accept this proposition. He said: 
“We are just now going away for the 
summer vacation. When we come 
back, if you still wish it, we will then 



CONDITIONS OF SALVATION 


157 


take you into the church.” This was 
not according to the boy’s desire, but 
he yielded. The summer passed, but 
said this minister, “When I came back 
in the fall I came back without my 
boy. He died in the summer days.” 
Doubtless the child was accepted of 
Christ because of his desire, but I am 
firmly convinced that he ought to have 
been in the church, and the father be¬ 
lieves it, too, to-day.— J. IV. Chap¬ 
man, D.D. 

656. Decision Day Results. 

On Easter Sunday fifty-six persons 
were received into my church. Of 
this number forty-four were by con¬ 
fession of Christ. Of this forty-four, 
thirty-nine were members of the Sun¬ 
day school; and of the others who 
came on the same occasion, by letter 
and confession, a great majority, I 
think, were reached and brought in 
through the influence of the Sunday 
school and particularly as the results 
of Decision Day.— Moore. 

657. Child Saving. 

A farmer in North Carolina drove 
into a neighboring city with a spirited 
team of horses, stepped out on the 
street and suddenly the horses became 
frightened and started to run. He 
grasped hold of them and finally drew 
himself up until he had the bridle 
rein, but he could not stop them. On 
they rushed through the streets until 
they came to a barrier which made it 
impossible for them to go on. They 
sprang up into the air and stopped, 
but they came down upon the body of 
the man. Bruised, bleeding, dying, his 
friends drew him forth from beneath 
their feet and they said, “Why didn’t 
you let them go? With a whisper he 
said, “Look in the wagon,” and in the 
wagon was his boy. I can quite under¬ 
stand this, as fathers we would give 
up our very lives for our children. 


658. Cost of Salvation. 

“Mama,” said a little child to her 
mother when she was being put to 
bed at night—“Mama, what makes 
your hand so scarred and twisted, and 
unlike other people’s hands?” “Well,” 
said the mother, “my child, when you 
were younger than you are now, years 
ago, one night, after I had put you to 
bed, I heard a cry, a shriek, upstairs. 
I came up, and found the bed was on 
fire, and you were on fire; and I took 
hold of you, and I tore off the burn¬ 
ing garments, and while I was tearing 
them off and trying to get you away 
I burned my hand, and it has been 
scarred and twisted ever since, and 
hardly looks any more like a hand; 
but I got that, my child, in trying to 
save you.” I wish to-day I could 
show you the burned hand of Christ 
—burned in plucking you out of the 
fire; burned in snatching you away 
from the flame. Aye, also the burned 
foot, and the burned brow, and the 
burned heart—burned for you. “By 
His stripes we are healed.”— T. 

659. Conditions of Salvation. 

One of the passengers on board the 
Atlantic, which was wrecked off Fish¬ 
er’s Island, was Principal J. R. An¬ 
drews, of New London. He could not 
swim but he determined to make a 
desperate effort to save his life. Bind¬ 
ing a life-preserver about him, he stood 
on the edge of the deck waiting his 
opportunity and when he saw a wave 
moving shoreward, he jumped into the 
rough breakers and was borne safely 
to land. He was saved by faith. He 
accepted the conditions of salvation. 
Forty perished in a scene where he 
was saved. In one sense he saved him¬ 
self ; in another sense he depended up¬ 
on God. It was a combination of per¬ 
sonal activity and dependence upon 
God that resulted in his salvation. If 
he had not used the life-preserver, he 
would have perished; if he had not 
cast himself into the sea, he would 



158 


RIGHT ABOUT FACE 


have perished. So faith in Christ is 
reliance upon him for salvation; but 
it is also our own making of a new 
start in life and the showing of our 
trust by action .—President A. H. 
Strong, D.D., Rochester, N. Y. 

660. Penitent’s First Effort. 

In every building the first stone 
must be laid and the first blow must 
be struck. The ark was 120 years in 
building; yet there was a day when 
Noah laid his axe at the first tree he 
cut down to form it. The temple of 
Solomon was a glorious building; but 
there was a day when the first huge 
stone was laid at the foot of Mount 
Moriah. When does the building of 
the Spirit really begin to appear in a 
man’s heart? It begins, so far as we 
can judge, when he first pours out his 
heart to God in prayer.— R. 

661. Right About Face. 

A young soldier, who had led a care¬ 
less life, but had become afterwards 
a Christian, described very well the 
change that had been wrought in him 
when he said—“Jesus Christ said to 
me, Right about face! And I heard 
and obeyed Him in my heart.” That 
is exactly what we call “conversion.” 
It is a turning about of the face—from 
the world to God. But with the face 
it is a turning also of the heart.— C. 
A. Salmond. 

662. How Christian’s Die. 

The French nurse who was present 
at the deathbed of Voltaire, being 
urged to attend an Englishman whose 
case was critical, said: “Is he a 
Christian?” “Yes,” was the reply, 
“he is, a Christian in the highest and 
best sense of the term—a man who 
lives in the fear of God; but why do 
you ask?” “Sir,” she answered, “I 
was the nurse who attended Voltaire 
in his last illness, and for all the 
wealth of Europe, I would never see 


another infidel die.”— Rev. Geo. P. 
Pentecost, D.D. 

663. Decision. 

It was said by a celebrated orator 
in the House of Lords a century ago, 
that an Englishman’s house is his 
castle, that the winds of heaven might 
enter by every window, that the rains 
might penetrate through every cranny, 
but that not even the sovereign of the 
land dare enter into it, however hum¬ 
ble, without its owner’s permission. 
God treats you in the same way. He 
says: “Willingly open your heart to 
Me, and I will give you every blessing; 
but I must be made welcome.”— G. 
Warner. 

664. Surrender. 

The foreman of a certain works in 
the north had often heard the Gospel, 
but he was troubled with the fear that 
he might not come to Christ. His 
good master one day sent a card round 
to the works: “Come to my house 
immediately after work.” The fore¬ 
man appeared at his master’s door, 
and the master came out, and said 
somewhat roughly: “What do you 
want, John, troubling me at this time? 
Work is done, what right have you 
here?” “Sir,” said he, “I had a card 
from you saying that I was to come 
after work.” “Do you mean to say 
that merely because you had a card 
from me you are to come up to my 
house and call me out after business 
hours?” “Well, sir,” replied the fore¬ 
man, “I do not understand you, but 
it seems to me that, as you sent for 
me, I had a right to come.” “Come 
in, John,” said his master, “I have 
another message that I want to read 
to you,” and he sat down and read 
these words: “ ‘Come unto Me, all ye 
that labor, and are heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest.’ Do you think 
that after such a message from Christ 
that you can be wrong in going to 
Him?” The poor man saw it all at 



CHRIST THE WAY THROUGH 


159 


once, and believed, because he saw that 
he had good warrant and authority 
for believing.— C. H. Spurgeon. 

665. Only Way. 

A man recently gave directions to 
another who stopped to ask him the 
way to a certain street. ‘‘That’s the 
best way, is it?” asked the inquirer, a 
little doubtfully. “It is the only way,” 
was the quick answer. “The other 
road will land you back where you 
started.”— Sunday School Times. 

666. Acknowledging God. 

When the old Spanish mariners, in 
their explorations, touched any new 
land, the first thing they did was to 
run up the flag of Ferdinand and Isa¬ 
bella to the masthead on the highest 
point that they could reach on the new 
land. Every new shore was claimed 
for Spain. The sovereigns that en¬ 
couraged the explorations of these 
Spanish mariners were acknowledged 
when the first foot touched the new 
shore. Ah, man! when you get your 
new situation, when you set up your 
new home, when new circumstances 
arrive in your life, it is grand to run 
up the flag of God’s Son, and say: 
“This new situation—this new era in 
my life—will be the acknowledgment 
of God in the person of His Son.”— 
John Robertson. 

667. Secret Disciples. 

The boy was expressing the opinion 
of many older than himself when he 
said to his mother: “I should like to 
be just such a Christian as father is, 
for no one can tell whether he is a 
Christian or not.” This father is like 
the clock attached to a certain church, 
which possessed neither face nor 
hands, but which was wound up by 
the sexton on Sundays and continued 
to tick year after year, affording an 
apt illustration of the religion which 
many are content to possess. The 


movements of the clock were as regu¬ 
lar and accurate as anyone could de¬ 
sire, but, inasmuch as it kept the time 
to itself, no one was the better for its 
existence.— C. H. Robinson, D.D. 

668. Irresponsive to God. 

A man cannot get these Divine bless¬ 
ings if he does not want them. You 
take a hermetically sealed bottle and 
put it into the sea, it may float about 
in mid-ocean for a century, surrounded 
by a shoreless ocean, and it will be 
as dry and empty inside at the end as 
it was at the beginning. So you and 
I float, live, move, and have our being 
in that great ocean of the Divine love 
in Christ, but you can cork up your 
hearts and wax them over with an 
impenetrable cover, through which that 
grace does not come. And you do do 
it, some of you.— A. Maclaren, D.D. 

669. Christ the Way Through. 

A distinguished artist lately, speak¬ 
ing to some students on artistic com¬ 
position, declared it to be a wrong 
thing pictorially to have a picture of 
woodland or forest without showing a 
path leading out of it. When the 
true artist paints a landscape he in¬ 
variably gives some suggestion of a 
path which can carry the eye out of 
the picture. Otherwise the tangle of 
trees and undergrowth would suffo¬ 
cate us, or the wide, trackless spaces 
dismay us. So God ever provides a 
Way of escape for His children.— 
Sunday at Home. 

670. Flood-Tide. 

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, 

Which taken at the flood, leads on to for¬ 
tune; 

Omitted, all the voyage of their life 

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.” 

Planting must be done in seed-time. 
Tending the field must be done in 
growing time. Harvesting must be 
done when the crop is ripe. We must 
make hay while the sun shines. We 
must grind our grist while the water 



i6o 


AN ACTIVE FAITH 


is flowing by the mill. We must teach 
the child while he is the child. We 
must show love while the loved ones 
are still with us. We must prepare 
for the future while it is still to-day. 
— H. C. Trumbull, D.D. 

671. His Answer. 

There was an old turnpike man in 
a quiet country road whose habit was 
to shut his gate at night and take a 
nap. One dark, wet night I knocked 
at his door crying, “Gate! Gate!” 
“Coming,” said the voice of the old 
man. Then I knocked again, and once 
more the voice replied, “Coming.” 
Then I knocked again, and once more 
the voice replied, “Coming.” This 
went on for some time, till at length 
I opened the door and demanded to 
know why he cried, “Coming,” for 
so long and never come. “Who’s 
there?” said the old man in a sleepy 
voice. “What d’ye want, sir?” Then, 
awakening, “Bless yer, sir, and yer 
pardon; I was asleep. I get so used 
to hearing them knock that I answer 
‘Coming’ in my sleep, and take no 
more notice about it.” So it is with 
too many hearers of the Gospel, who 
hear by habit, and answer God by 
habit, and at length die with their 
souls asleep .—Sunday School Chronicle . 

672. Decision Day Hint. 

Hold your scholars to the main 
question—the character and claims of 
Christ. Always you can show them 
that deciding for Christ means trust¬ 
ing Him for all things, the honest 
intention to obey Him in all things, 
and saying this before men. 

673. Faith and Believing. 

Faith and believing are two differ¬ 
ent things. Dr. Arthur Pink, the 
Bible teacher, has helped to make the 
difference clear. How did we get 
our eyesight? he asks. By our own 
will power or activity? No; our 
sight is God’s gift. But how do we 


see ? We see by using our sight. We 
decide for ourselves when we shall 
see and when we shall not see. Our 
will power enters into it. Seeing, 
therefore, is an act of ours; sight is 
God’s gift. Seeing is our voluntary 
use of the gift of sight. So of faith 
and believing. Faith is God’s gift to 
us. Peter writes (2 Peter 1:1) “to 
them that have obtained a like precious 
faith with us in the righteousness of 
our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 
Obtaining, here, is not attaining or 
achieving; it is receiving a gift. But, 
after God has given us the gift of 
faith, it is our responsibility to decide 
whether we shall use it or not. When 
we use the gift of faith we believe. 
So we may rightly speak of “the 
will to believe.” Many a child of God 
is failing to enjoy God’s richest bless¬ 
ings in Christ because failing to use 
for those blessings the gift of faith 
already received. By simple will 
power we may, and we should, be¬ 
lieve all that God’s Word says is true 
for us in Christ Jesus our Cord and 
life. Are we believing with our faith? 
—Sunday School Times. 

674. Interest of Church Members. 

Even those members of the church 
who are not directly connected with 
the Sunday School can do much for 
the success of Decision Day. They 
should join with the parents and Bible- 
school workers in especial prayer for 
God’s blessing upon the efforts put 
forth in behalf of the children; they 
should be as solicitous for and as ac¬ 
tive in behalf of the spiritual welfare 
of the little ones in the household of 
faith as they are for the physical and 
intellectual welfare of the children in 
their homes. 

675. An Active Faith. 

Belief is the acceptance of a map. 
Faith is the taking the voyage.— Rev. 
J. H. Jowett, D.D. 



IMMEDIACY OF RELIGION 


161 


676. Loss from Delay. 

An aged nobleman who had lived 
his life as a man of the world, was 
visited by God’s grace when he was 
past four-score and became a truly 
changed man and spent the remainder 
of his life in humble faith and hope. 
When Christian friends congratulated 
him on the wonderful mercy and for¬ 
bearance that had been extended to 
him by God who had spared him, a 
look of sadness would come over the 
old man’s face as he replied, “Yes, 
my dear friends, thank God my soul 
is saved, but my life is lost, my life 
is lost.” 

677. Immediacy of Religion. 

“Immediately—I sent to thee.” Acts 
10:33. One word reveals the man. 
He did not dilly dally about his soul’s 
welfare. When Roosevelt was Presi¬ 
dent, he said that when he wanted a 
thing done he sent for a soldier. That 
is how he got the Panama Canal dug. 
The earnest man never delays. This 
type of man compels success. Never 
loses a moment in attending to things, 
especially in matters of the soul. Gen¬ 
eral Frank P. Blair after listening to 
a sermon in a Fifth Avenue, New 
York, church stood up before the con¬ 
gregation and said, “I want to accept 
Jesus Christ as my Saviour here and 
now, and confess Him before men.” 
That was the splendid soldier of it 
for you. Cornelius sent for his friends. 
In Washington, Secretary of State in¬ 
vited Billy Sunday to his house to tell 
the old, old story, and he sent for his 
friends in the official life of the cap¬ 
ital. Cornelius was the “big man” of 
Caesarea. He was a Roman, rich and 
influential. You may be sure all the 
invited ones were there. Cornelius is 
one of the most refreshing men in the 
Book of Acts.— R. 

678. Decision for Christ. 

The habit of indecision is one of the 
hardest of all habits to overcome. A 
11 


weak will weakens the whole life. 
Decision is needed to conquer any bad 
habit; how much more the habit of 
indecision! 

The only safety when we have any¬ 
thing that we should do is to do it at 
once. Every day’s delay makes it 
harder to do. 

When we once decide for Christ, 
every other good decision is instantly 
made easier. No other decision is so 
economical of effort as that one. 

679. To-day. 

“To-day, if ye will hear His voice, 
harden not your hearts.”—Ps. 95 : 7, 8. 
It is a solemn thing to say to-morrow 
when God says to-day, for man’s to¬ 
morrow and God’s to-day never meet. 
The word that comes from the eternal 
throne is “now” and it is man’s own 
choice that fixes his doom .—Duncan 
Matieson. 

680 Indian Girl’s Decision. 

India has decision Sabbaths as well 
as America. We are told that on one 
such day thirty girls in Bengal signed 
the following stanza, which they can 
sing if they will to the air of “Just 
as I am.” Thus: 

“Just as I am, young, strong and free, 

To be the best that I can be 

For truth, and righteousness, and Thee, 

Iyord of my life, I come.” 

Fourteen of these girls have since 
been baptized and others are ready to 
take this step. 

681. Join the Church. 

There is a strange tribe of natives 
in Africa. It is said that they never 
count. They know nothing of arith¬ 
metic. A gentleman asked one of them 
how many oxen he had. “Don’t know,” 
replied the native. “Then how do you 
know if one or two are missing?” 
The reply was striking and beautiful. 
“Not because the number would be 
less, but because of a face that I 
would miss.” Is yours the missing 
face of the flock?— H. 



OPPORTUNITY NOW 


162 


682. Winning Others to Christ. 

The difference between a salesman 
and a clerk is tha* the salesman finds 
customers while customers must find 
the clerk. In business for God are 
you a salesman or a clerk ? Must sin¬ 
ners find you or do you find them? 
Does your church find men or must 
men find your church ? One good 
salesman is worth a dozen clerks. In 
business for God, which are you, sales¬ 
man or clerk?— H. 

683. Gospel Invitation. 

“But they made light of it.” Matt. 
22: 5. It was the King’s invitation. 
“They made light of it.” They thought 
they were judging the King. They 
were not. Who were they judging? 
Listen. A tourist went to “do” one 
of the picture galleries in Florence. 
He went round looking at this picture 
and that, and then when he came to 
the door to go out, he said to the old 
man who had kept the pictures for 
many a year, “I do not think much of 
your pictured.” “Oh,” said the old 
man, “that does not matter, sir; the 
pictures are not up for judgment, but 
the visitors are.” Yes, my brethren, 
Jesus Christ is not up for judgment 
and criticism, but the visitors are.— H. 

684. Child Christians. 

An evangelist was talking to a 
meeting of children. He brought out 
a row of candles on a board; a very 
long candle was at one end, a very 
short one at the other. Between the 
long one and the short one were can¬ 
dles of various heights. He said 
that by these candles he wanted to 
represent the grandfather, father and 
mother, boys and girls, and the baby 
of a fami’y who never heard of Christ 
until a missionary came—whom he 
represented by a lighted candle—and 
then they all gave their hearts to 
Jesus, and from that day loved and 
served Him. He then asked which 
candle they thought represented the 
grandfather, the mother, and so on. 


They all thought that the tallest candle, 
would be the grandfather, but he told 
them, “No, that stands for the baby, 
the youngest member of the family.” 
Presently one little boy said: “I know 
why; he has the chance to shine the 
longest for Jesus.” 

685. Opportunity Now. 

When the great bridge in St. Louis 
was nearly completed, it was found 
that the two halves of the structure 
would not quite meet in the center. 
An engineer was sent to New York to 
consult authorities in the emergency. 
While he was trying to ascertain 
where the error lay, he received a 
telegram, telling him that the warmth 
of the sun had expanded the iron so 
that the two ends had come together. 
As quickly as the telegraph could 
carry the message he sent back word, 
“Clamp them;” and it was done. 

When the Holy Spirit works in the 
Church, then is the time to take ad¬ 
vantage. Now is the time. Now is 
the time to get into the kingdom those 
for whom you have been working so 
long, as also many others in the com¬ 
munity. 

686. No Neutrality. 

The story has been told of a sol¬ 
dier who was missed amid the bustle 
of a battle, and no one knew what 
had become of him, but it was known 
that he was not in the ranks. As 
soon as opportunity offered, his officer 
went in search of him, and, to his 
surprise, found that the man during 
a battle, had been amusing himself in 
a flower garden. When it was de¬ 
manded what he did there, he excused 
himself by saying, “Sir, I am doing 
no harm.” But he was tried, con¬ 
victed and shot. What a sad but true 
picture this is of many who waste 
their time and neglect their duty, and 
who can give no better answer than, 
“Lord, I am doing no harm !” 



THE NEED OF DECISION 


163 


687. There Is Hurry. 

There was a fire in a terrace of 
houses in the middle of the night, and 
one man, discovering the fire, cried to 
his bed companion, “Get up at once, 
the house next door but one is on 
fire!” “Oh, wait till it gets next 
door,” growled his sleepy friend. No 
one wishing to be saved can take that 
attitude.— H. 

688. Hopeful Cases. 

Some of the most hopeful features 
of a soul’s condition may be accom¬ 
panied by the most threatening and 
awful dangers. One is lest the soul 
slip back again from this hopeful 
state. Do you “remember Lot’s wife”? 
God told us to do so. In Bunyan’s 
“Pilgrim Progress,” the reader will 
recall, one of the company came sud¬ 
denly upon a pillar of salt, which they 
told him was Lot’s wife. Do you re¬ 
member that Pilgrim’s name? Think 
a moment, for the name is very sug¬ 
gestive. The name is just Hopeful. 
Hopeful was the one who needed the 
lesson of Lot’s wife most. How many 
of these hopeful cases have we seen, 
young men and young women, older 
men and older women, who at the 
critical moment turned back—gave up 
their efforts to follow Christ. A hope¬ 
ful state is a state with grave dan¬ 
gers. 

Another danger is lest the awakened 
soul be content to stop at the spot 
that has been reached. Not far from 
the kingdom is not in the kingdom. 
Almost saved is not altogether saved. 
It is altogether lost. The man in the 
snow storm on the Dakota prairie was 
“lost in sight of home.” After safely 
circumnavigating the globe the “Royal 
Charter” went to pieces on the coast 
of Wales, almost into the harbor. 
Nearness is not possession. Almost 
saved is not saved. It is a dangerous 
thing for an awakened sinner to stop 
where he is.— H. 


689. The Need of Decision. 

A prominent merchant in one of 
our great cities said that one Sunday 
he went to church in Cleveland and 
heard the minister preach about ac¬ 
cepting Christ. It was no new theme 
to the merchant. He had meant to 
do it all his life and he had always 
thought of it. He wondered whether 
the minister would say anything new 
about it, anything that would make it 
more feasible. Nothing was said but 
what he had heard a hundred times 
before. And then it dawned upon 
him that probably nothing ever would 
be. It had all been said. Any new 
element that could come into the situ¬ 
ation could come only from action on 
his own part. Man enough to see 
the point he shut the door on his 
thoughts. He had more than done 
justice by them. They had had his 
attention for more than thirty years 
of his life, and he was now a man of 
fifty and not saved. Without another 
thought he went to the minister then, 
after that service, and told him that 
he accepted Christ, and that as soon 
as it could be arranged he would do 
it publicly. After his action there was 
plenty more to think about. Thought 
was no longer a dull, brooding, poison¬ 
ous, stupefying process. All first rate 
thought is more than half action. And 
there was nothing lacking in this man’s 
decision because it was done suddenly. 
The suddenness of it was the saving 
thing. 

And so all of us, in a dozen different 
directions, are administering an opiate 
to ourselves by professing that we 
wish a longer time to think a matter 
over. We fancy we are dealing deli¬ 
cately and finely with the matter when, 
in reality, we are blunting and coarsen¬ 
ing the fine capacity for action, and 
when that is dulled life has no more 
zest. Shakespeare gave us Hamlet as 
the visible summary of the miseries 
of the indecisive soul who can no 



164 


NO DECISION IS DECISION 


longer act, but only see and think and 
ponder .—Sunday School Times. 

690. Joining Jesus Christ. 

Remember that in joining the church 
you are not joining any man or any 
set of men; you are joining Jesus 
Christ. It is His church, dominated 
by His Spirit. In joining it you 
show your loyalty to Him, and not to 
His unworthy followers. 

691. Faith and Obedience. 

Mr. John R. Mott, while on his 
missionary tour around the wojrld, 
received a letter from Kumamoto in 
Japan, inviting him to come there, and 
asking how many persons it would 
take to form a Christian Association 
adding that there were only three 
Christians in a college of seven hun¬ 
dred students. Mr. Mott wrote back 
that three were enough to form an 
association if they were only united. 
He also said that he would visit the 
college. He found, when he reached 
Kumamoto, that the three Christians 
had grown to fourteen. Five years 
later he visited them, and learned that 
they had grown to be one of the 
strongest associations in Japan. He 
found that they went every morning at 
daybreak to a place they called “Flow¬ 
ery Hill” and held a prayer service. 
He also found a crowd of the class 
most difficult to reach at that time of 
the day, but before he left fully two 
hundred students had accepted Christ. 
Those men obeyed God’s command to 
launch out into the deep of faith and 
let down the nets of prayer and work. 

“Though it is against all precedent 
and against good judgment, yet if you 
say so, Lord, I will do it.” 

Do you remember how, when you 
came to the pasture gate, you used 
to have to get out of the buggy and 
go ahead to open the gate? They are 
making a new sort of contrivance these 
days. All you have to do is to drive 
right at the gate, and it opens of its 


own accord. In some way the weight 
of the horse, as he steps on the plat¬ 
form, releases a lever, and the gate 
swings open. Often we are unable to 
see just how God’s commands are 
going to be obeyed. If he says, “Go 
ahead,” or “Let down the net,” it is 
safe to do it. 

When he tells you to start out on 
the Christian life it is safe for you 
to do it.— H. 

692. No Decision Is Decision. 

At the battle of Gettysburg a gen¬ 
eral reported to Longstreet, the com¬ 
manding officer, that he could not bring 
his men up again. Longstreet an¬ 
swered sarcastically, “Very well; 
never mind, then; just let them stay 
where they are; the enemy’s going to 
advance, and that will spare you the 
trouble.” In the same way, while we 
are delaying to take a stand against 
the enemy of our souls, he is steadily 
advancing upon us. 

693. This Is Decision Day. 

You are at a railroad station and a 
train is just ready to leave for the 
place where you want to go. You wait 
to consider whether to go on that train, 
and just by waiting you decide that 
you will not go, for the train leaves 
you behind. In the same way you can¬ 
not put off decision for Christ without 
deciding against Him to-day. 

694. Must Decide. 

A farmer, who was far along in 
life, was one evening leisurely driving 
his cows home from pasture, when his 
thoughts ran like this: “Here I am 
getting old, and yet I am not a Chris¬ 
tian; when is this matter to be set¬ 
tled? I fear never, if I don’t com¬ 
mence soon to think on the subject.” 
And then the thought came up, “Why 
not settle it at once? Why not be a 
Christian without further delay?” 

This came so forcibly home to his 
conscience that he exclaimed, “I will 



NO FOOLING NOW 


be a Christian now! This night shall 
decide it;” and, strange as it may 
appear, he was at once enabled to give 
his heart to God and go on his way 
rejoicing. 

Sometimes it appears, as in this 
case, that all that is needed is decision. 
And, in any case, when the point of 
decision is reached, the blessing comes, 
for with decision comes the willing¬ 
ness to give up all for Christ.— Amer¬ 
ican Messenger. 

695. No Fooling Now. 

The following entry was found in 
a boy’s dairy: “September 21, 19—. 
Made up my mind to-day to be a 
Christian. No fooling this time.” 
There is a suggestion here for all who 
profess surrender to the blessed Lord. 

696. Decide Now. 

An old Scotch farmer had been ap¬ 
proached again and again by the local 
representative of a fire insurance com¬ 
pany to protect his farm against fire. 
“Na, na!” the old man would reply, 
with a wise shake of his head. “Ma 
fairm ’ull nae gang on fire!” Then 
one fateful day the unexpected hap¬ 
pened. The neighbors were aston¬ 
ished to see the farmer racing up and 
down the village street instead of help¬ 
ing to put out the flames. As he ran 
he shouted: “Sandy! Sandy! Whaur’s 
that insurance chap? It’s awfu’ that 
ye canna find a body when ye’re needin’ 
him!” That was no time to decide. 
The time for you to decide for Christ 
is now.— H. 

697. Now! Now! 

The steamship Central America, on 
a voyage from New York to San 
Francisco sprung a leak in mid-ocean. 
A vessel seeing her signal of distress 
bore down toward her and the cap¬ 


165 


tain of the rescue ship cried, “Let me 
take your passengers on board now.” 
But it was night and the commander 
of the Central America feared to send 
his passengers away in the darkness, 
and, thinking they could keep afloat 
a while longer, replied, “Lie by till 
morning.” About an hour and a half 
later her lights were missed. All on 
board perished, because it was thought 
they could be saved better at another 
time. “Now is the accepted time.” 

698. Now, Though Young. 

A young girl visiting the country 
was following the farmer’s wife along 
a winding, half overgrown path amid 
a winding tangle of wild flowers. The 
young visitor exclaimed at their variety 
and beauty. “I mean to gather all I 
can carry when we come back and 
have a little more time,” she said. 
“Better pick them now, if you want 
them,” said the elder woman. “It 
isn’t likely we’ll come back this way.” 
It was one of those simple, homely 
incidents that sometimes seem to epit¬ 
omize life. We must pick now if we 
want them at all, the flowers of grace 
and salvation that God scatters along 
our way. 

699. Opportunity Now. 

In a certain church, on a summer 
Sunday, was a Bible-class enrolling 
sixty members. The next Sunday only 
eighteen were living. Forty-two had 
gone into eternity. They had learned 
their last Bible lesson, and improved 
or neglected their last opportunity 
for salvation. How earnestly would 
that elder have taught, how earnestly 
would that class have listened to God’s 
truth, had they known that it was, for 
two out of every three of them, the 
last time! The Bible-class was in 
Johnstown, Pa. “The night cometh” 
for all. 




166 


CHRIST’S TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION 


X. PALM SUNDAY 

(Last Sunday in Lent, Sunday Preceding Easter.) 


700. Christ’s Triumphal Procession. 

In September, 61 B. C., the most 
magnificent triumph ever seen in Rome 
was given to Pompey. For two days 
the grand procession of trophies from 
every land and a long retinue of cap¬ 
tives moved into the city along the 
Via Sacra. Brazen tablets were car¬ 
ried, on which were engraved the 
names of the conquered nations, in¬ 
cluding one thousand castles and nine 
hundred cities. The remarkable cir¬ 
cumstance of the celebration was that 
it declared him conqueror of the whole 
world. So the triumphal procession 
of Christ into Jerusalem was but a 
faint shadow of the coming of the 
Prince of Peace, whom all nations and 
the wealth and glory of them shall 
take part in His glorious triumph. 
And we are glad to believe the day is 
rapidly approaching. 

701. Christ Standing Above the 

City. 

One of the saddest episodes in all 
Christ’s life occurred during this tri¬ 
umphal procession. Luke tells us 
about it. As our Lord came within 
view of the Holy City, shining in its 
beauty below him, glorious with its 
memories of a resplendent past, He 
wept at the sight, and broke out in 
lamentations. 

Does He not do the same as He 
stands upon the Palisades of the Hud¬ 
son and looks down upon New York, 
in many ways the greatest city of the 
world? Does He not say, “If thou 
hadst known in this day, even thou, 
the things which belong unto peace!” 
If the men of Wall Street and the 
women of Fifth Avenue could see 
Him standing there, would they turn 
from their money-getting and their 
pursuit of pleasure? They could see 


Him, if they would .—Amos R. Wells, 
D.D. 

702. The King’s Reign Desired. 

One of the morning prayers of the 
Synagogue Liturgy reads: “We hope 
in Thee, O Lord our God, that we may 
speedily behold the glory of Thy 
might, when Thou wilt remove the 
abominations from the earth, and the 
idols will be utterly cut off, when the 
whole world will be perfected under 
the Kingdom of the Almighty, when 
all the children of flesh will call upon 
Thy name, when Thou wilt convert 
unto Thyself all the wicked of the 
earth. Let all the inhabitants of the 
earth perceive and know that unto 
Thee every knee must bow, every 
tongue must swear. Let them all ac¬ 
cept the yoke of Thy kingdom, and 
do Thou reign over them speedily and 
forever.” 

703. The King of Kings. 

When Alexander the Great set for¬ 
ward upon his great exploits, before 
leaving Macedonia he divided among 
his captains and nobles all his prop¬ 
erty. On being rebuked by a friend 
for having, as he thought, acted so 
foolishly in parting with all his pos¬ 
sessions, reserving nothing for him¬ 
self, Alexander replied: “I have re¬ 
served for myself the hope of uni¬ 
versal monarchy; and when by the 
help of these my captains and nobles, 
I shall be monarch of the world, the 
gifts I have parted with will all come 
back to me with an increase of a 
thousandfold.” 

704. The Prince We Want. 

A woman in India had learned that 
she was a sinner, and that God is holy 
and cannot pass by sin. She often 



HISTORIC ENTRIES INTO JERUSALEM 167 


said, “I need some great prince to 
stand between my soul and God.” 
After a while she heard that the Bible 
contained the account of a Saviour 
who had died for sinners. So she 
asked a Pundit to read the Bible to 
her. He began at the first chapter of 
Matthew, and as he read the list of 
names in the genealogy of Christ, the 
woman thought, “What a wonderful 
Prince this Jesus must be to have such 
a long line of ancestors.” And when 
the Pundit read, “Thou shalt call His 
name Jesus; for He shall save His 
people from their sins,” the woman 
exclaimed, “Ah, this is the Prince I 
want! This is the Prince I want! 
The Prince who is also a Saviour!” 
This is the Prince we want—the Prince 
we need.— H. 

705. Rebuking an Emperor. 

Emperor Theodosius denied the 
Deity of Christ. When his son Ar- 
cadius was about sixteen he decided to 
make him a partner with himself in 
the government of the empire. Among 
the great men who assembled them¬ 
selves to congratulate the new wearer 
of the imperial purple was a Bishop 
named Amphilocus. . He made a hand¬ 
some address to the Emperor and was 
about to leave when Theodosius ex¬ 
claimed : “What! do you take no 
notice of my son?” Then the Bishop 
went up to Arcadius and putting his 
hands upon his head, said: “The Lord 
bless thee, my son!” The Emperor 
roused to fury by this slight, ex¬ 
claimed, “What! is this all the respect 
you pay to a prince that I have made 
of equal dignity with myself?” Am¬ 
philocus replied, “Sire, you do so 
highly resent my apparent neglect of 
your son, because I do not give him 
equal honors with yourself. Then, 
what must the Eternal God think of 
you when you degrade His co-equal 
and co-eternal Son to the level of one 
of His creatures?” The Emperor 
judged the rebuke to be just. 


How are we treating Christ, God’s 
Son? There is a new call to-day for 
the enthronement of Christ to His 
place as Son of God—deity.— H. 

706. Crown Him Lord. 

One of the best crowns is love. 
When the late King Edward, of Eng¬ 
land, opened the new docks at Cardiff, 
the press reported the following re¬ 
ception : “Almost simultaneously with 
the entry of the Royal yacht at one 
end of the dock, a couple of steamers, 
crowded from stem to stern with little 
children, the inmates of various local 
benevolent institutions, swept in at the 
other. On one of the steamers were 
hundreds of trimly-clad waifs and 
strays; on the other were many deaf 
and dumb children, on whose behalf a 
large banner conveyed a message to 
His Majesty in these simple but elo¬ 
quent terms: “We cannot shout, we 
cannot sing, but we love our gracious 
king!” Some hearts cannot demon¬ 
strate as others, but they can love. 
But others of us can shout. Let us 
join with the children of the first 
Palm Sunday and say “Hosanna in 
the highest” and also “crown Him 
Lord of all.” 

707. Historic Entries into Jeru¬ 

salem. 

The Orient has ever been the region 
of the barbaric display of splendor 
and luxury in jewels, weapons, horses, 
tents, and armed men. Jerusalem has 
often been the goal of such cavalcades, 
preceded by a great preparation of 
the highways at the fords, at the steep 
ascents from rivers, and over the 
rocky hill-country of Judea. The 
coming of the Queen of Sheba to 
listen to the wisdom of Solomon; the 
coming of Helena, wife of Constan¬ 
tine, to find the Holy Cross; the ar¬ 
rival of the Crusading Kings to rescue 
the Holy Sepulchre, were all occasions 
when the pomp and splendor of the 
world dazzled and impressed all who 



CLOTHES TO THREAD ON 


168 


came toward Jerusalem. Heralds and 
royal messengers thronged the high¬ 
ways, proclaiming peace and pardon, 
promising rewards to those who were 
loyal, or issuing warnings and threats 
to those rebelling against the coming 
conqueror. 

The most wonderful and impressive 
sight of modern times at Jerusalem 
was the coming of the German Em¬ 
peror several years ago. It was 
planned with all the spectacular para¬ 
phernalia of both Orient and Occi¬ 
dent, including both the traditional 
preparation for an ancient monarch 
and the added glory of the most enig¬ 
matic of modern kings. The royal 
messengers came, followed by the toil 
of thousands in preparing smooth 
paths for the royal cavalcade, which 
numbered thousands of men, soldiers, 
horses, tents, and banners, with a dis¬ 
play perhaps never to be seen again 
by anyone now living. At the moment 
of his royal appearance the heralds 
were there, but they had no message; 
the question was on every lip at the 
time and has been ever since—“Why 
has he come?” The world under¬ 
stands now why he came.— Rev. F. B. 
Hoskins, D.D. 

708. A New Sort of Triumph. 

How different was this processional 
from the return in victory of Rome’s 
generals! Here was the conquest of 
human hearts by the acts of service, 
tenderness and care. Here was the 
Prince of Peace riding in the midst 
of His friends. Under the spell of 
that matchless personality rich Simon 
the Pharisee, outcast Zaccheus and the 
poorest Samaritan peasant could walk 
side by side. What a tribute to the 
Character of Jesus that they could 
see, even for a day, the Anointed of 
God in the village Carpenter of Naz¬ 
areth, the wandering Preacher of 
Galilee, the genuine Democrat who 
looked impartially on Dives and 


Lazarus, the Man who had not where 
to lay his head! 

Jesus enjoyed their appreciation, 
though not for one moment did He 
overestimate its value. Jesus always 
prefers the “Amen Hallelujah” of the 
impulsive to the cold sarcasm of the 
cynical Pharisee. The great problem 
to-day, as then, is to combine warm 
enthusiasm with reasoned loyalty that 
will stand the practical tests of life. 
Too many of our rallies and revivals 
are as temporary in their effects as 
the zeal of those well-meaning Jews.— 
Rev. G. D. Allison. 

709. Clothes to Tread On. 

Plutarch mentions it as a circum¬ 
stance of respect to Cato the Younger 
upon a particular occasion by the sol¬ 
diery, that they laid their garments 
for him to tread upon as he marched. 

710. A Victorious Christ. 

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verruco¬ 
sus was made dictator of Rome and 
was pitted against Hannibal in the 
Second Punic War. His method of 
warfare has given rise to the term, 
“Fabian Policy.” It consisted in de¬ 
lating and wearing out the enemy. 
That was satisfactory neither to his 
men nor to Rome herself. Was he 
granted a triumph? No, indeed. On 
the contrary, another man, the com¬ 
mander-in-chief of the cavalry, was 
raised to an equal share in the dic¬ 
tatorship. Fabius gained brilliant vic¬ 
tories in the end. But there was no 
triumph granted while he was de¬ 
laying. Jesus Christ gained a victory 
that was commensurate with the tri¬ 
umph which He assumed for himself, 
and which was readily allowed by His 
followers. Those who had made the 
temple a place of personal gain were 
driven therefrom as unworthy occu¬ 
pants. A prayer-house changed into 
a thief-den was too shocking to be 
permitted when the King put on His 
royal robes. It is time to cast out 



MEETING THE LORD’S NEED 


169 


those who enjoy the revenue and neg¬ 
lect the service .—Religious Telescope . 

711. In the Orient. 

Over a year ago, as we approached 
one of the Oriental churches on Palm 
Sunday, one of a group of boys point¬ 
ed to Dr. Howie and said, “The 
preacher came! the preacher came 1” 
However, there was no preaching that 
day. The large edifice was packed 
with children, some of them in arms, 
holding up a forest of olive and palm 
branches, gaily decorated with tapers, 
ring-shaped cakes (made of white 
flour and grape syrup), beautiful 
bunches of roses and other flowers, 
and gilt hazelnuts and walnuts. The 
whole multitude present, in and out¬ 
side were in their best and brightest 
attire, and the service, which could 
scarcely be heard for the cries and 
hubbub of the children, was held and 
is held annually, in commemoration of 
Palm Sunday.— Mrs. Ghosn-el-Howie. 

712. Meeting the Lord’s Need. 

One of the most triumphal features 
of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jeru¬ 
salem happened before the great pro¬ 
cession started; it was the request for 
the colt, “The Lord hath need of him,” 
followed by the willing surrender of 
the animal. 

A professor in Albany College, Ore., 
was about to resign because the trus¬ 
tees could not give him a necessary 
increase of one hundred dollars in 
salary. Thereupon David Torbet, pro¬ 
fessor of mathematics, with a salary 
of eight hundred dollars a year, asked 
the trustees to reduce it to seven hun¬ 
dred, because “he was so grateful to 
God for his prosperity” in having been 
able to save several thousand dollars. 
Then the hundred dollars could be 
applied to the salary of the other 
professor. 

Every deed of glad self-sacrifice like 
that is a contribution to Christ’s tri¬ 
umphal march through the ages. 


Mounting upon it, the Lord of lords 
rides in royal state. No one of us 
but has some colt to yield when the 
message comes, “The Lord hath need 
of him.” 

713. Christ the Dominant Note. 

The true “Oratorio of the Messiah” 
is the Bible. In every great musical 
composition there is a diapason, a con¬ 
cordant, a unitive, a dominant, a per¬ 
vasive, note. It thunders in the bass, 
it now is lost in the treble, it then 
reappears and is heard as the song 
closes. Jesus Christ is the diapason 
of the oratorio of the Bible. His name 
is the harmonious note in this glori¬ 
ous song of the ages. The unity of 
the Bible is not external, but internal; 
it is not mechanical, but essential; it 
is not material, but spiritual. Through¬ 
out all the Bible the name of Christ 
echoes, and the glory of Christ shines. 
Through the corridors of the Bible, 
as a revelation of God the footfalls 
of Christ reverberate, and the music 
of His name resounds. 

In England, as in America, audi¬ 
ences uniformly rise when the choirs 
sing the “Hallelujah Chorus” in the 
“Oratorio of the Messiah.” In Albert 
Hall, London, a great audience was 
assembled, and Victoria the Great and 
the Good was in her royal box. The 
audience rose, but the noble queen re¬ 
mained seated. Soon every eye was 
directed to the royal box in which sat 
the aged and somewhat enfeebled 
queen. On rolled the magnificent 
chorus; but the queen remained seated. 
Higher still rose the lofty song; on¬ 
ward swept the glorious music. Loftier 
still rose the celestial notes. Now the 
song reached the part of the chorus 
where Christ is praised as “King of 
kings and Lord of lords.” The swell¬ 
ing song thus puts the crown of uni¬ 
versal dominion on his divine-human 
brow. Then the queen arose, stepped 
to the front of her royal box, and 
stood with bowed head, as if she would 



170 


RECENT TRIUMPHAL ENTRY 


put the crown of the world’s mightiest 
empire at the pierced feet of her 
divine Lord. 

Creation and revelation, art and 
science, song and story, learning and 
genius, and all earthly rulers reach 
their noblest heights when they bend 
in lowliest reverence at the feet of 
Jesus Christ, and crown Him “King 
of kings and Lord of lords.”— R. S. M. 

714. Casting Their Garments. 

For ordinary journeying on the 
stony bridle-paths, the donkey was as 
quick as a horse, and was besides more 
sure-footed and easily handled. A 
white Jerusalem donkey of good pace 
and pedigree still costs as much as a 
horse. The saddle was easily im¬ 
provised by folding up several of the 
large felt-like cloaks, and these could 
be held in position by fastening a sash 
round the body of the animal. The 
casting of garments in the path made 
a procession of honor such as would 
be prepared for royal personages and 
great conquerors. Of these the ex¬ 
treme instance is the living carpet of 
honor which is provided when men 
lay themselves down in closely packed 
tiers across the road and are slowly 
ridden over by the horse of a Moslem 
sheikh who has returned safely from 
the Mecca pilgrimage.— G. M. Mackie, 
D.D. 

715. Recent Triumphal Entry. 

Our boys coming home were wel¬ 
comed. General Pershing coming 
home was welcomed. We especially 
recall the entry of General Allenby 
into Jerusalem, December 10th, 1917. 
W. T. Massey, who was there, thus 
wrote about it. 

“I write this after witnessing the 
official entry of General Allenby, his 
staff, and military commanders of the 
detachments of French and Italian 
troops. It was a ceremony fully 
worthy of the cause for which we 
were fighting. There was no great 


pageantry of arms, no display of the 
pomp and circumstance of a victorious 
army. The Commander-in-Chief had 
a small staff guard, less than 150 all 
told, of allied troops. There was the 
quiet ceremonial of reading the procla¬ 
mation of military law and of meet¬ 
ing the notables of the city and the 
heads of the religious bodies, and the 
official entry was over. 

“At eight o’clock in the morning the 
Mayor of the city and Chief of Police 
came out under a flag of truce. The 
Mayor, who holds his high civic posi¬ 
tion as a member of the Husselny 
family, which possesses documentary 
proof of direct descent from Mo¬ 
hammed through the Prophet’s daugh¬ 
ter, offered to surrender the city. The 
formal surrender was arranged for at 
noon on December 8. 

“Between the offer to surrender and 
the formal acceptance there was sharp 
fighting in the outskirts of Jerusalem, 
the Turks fighting more stubbornly 
than at any period of the operations, 
and meeting bayonet with bayonet. 
Troops were operating from the 
south and east and drove the Turks 
down the Jericho road. This was the 
military position on December 9, at 
noon. 

“At noon through the suburbs the 
people flocked into the highway and 
welcomed the Commander-in-chief’s 
representative by the time immemorial 
method of clapping the hands, while 
old women and girls threw flowers and 
palm leaves on the road. The cere¬ 
mony of surrendering the city was 
very brief. The General gave the 
Mayor instructions for the mainte¬ 
nance of order, and had guards placed 
over the public buildings outside the 
Holy City, but no soldier of the King 
passed within the walls that day. 
Though the sound of guns had hardly 
ceased the people felt secure and 
happy. 

“From the outskirts of Jerusalem 



EXAMPLES OF TRIUMPHS 


the Jaffa road was crowded with peo¬ 
ple who flocked westward to greet the 
conquering General. Armenians and 
Greeks stood side by side with Mos¬ 
lems dressed in the brighter raiment 
of the East. 

“The flat-topped roofs and balconies 
held many people crying aloud a gen¬ 
eral welcome, but it was in the streets 
where the cosmopolitan crowd had 
assembled that one looked for and 
obtained the real feeling of all the 
peoples. 

“General Allenby entered the town 
on foot. Outside the Jaffa Gate he 
was received by the Military Govern¬ 
ment and a guard of honor. Drawn 
up on the right of the gate were men 
from English, Scottish, Irish, and 
Welsh counties. Opposite them were 
fifty men afoot, representing the Aus¬ 
tralian and New Zealand horsemen. 
Inside the walls were twenty French 
and twenty Italian soldiers from de¬ 
tachments sent by their countries to 
take part in the Palestine operations, 
Allenby entering by the Joppa gate 
which is known to the Arabs as “The 
Friend.” Inside the walls was a crowd 
more densely packed in the narrow 
streets than that outside. 

“The Commander-in-chief, preceded 
by aides-de-camp, had on his right the 
commander of the French detachment, 
and on his left the commander of the 
Italian detachment. Following were 
the Italian, French, and American mili¬ 
tary attaches and a few members of 
the General Staff. Guards of honor 
marched in the rear. The procession 
turned to the right into Mount Zion 
and halted at the Citadel. 

“On the steps at the base of the 
Tower of David the proclamation of 
military law was read in four lan¬ 
guages in the presence of the Com¬ 
mander-in-chief and many notables of 
the city. Tfye terms of the proclama¬ 
tion promised that every person could 
pursue his lawful business without 


171 


interruption, and that every sacred 
building, monument, holy spot, shrine, 
traditional site, endowment, pious be¬ 
quest of customary place of prayer of 
whatsoever form of the great religions 
of mankind would be maintained and 
protected according to the existing 
customs and beliefs of those to whose 
faiths they were sacred. It clearly 
made a deep impression on the popu¬ 
lace. While the proclamation- was 
being read, guns were booming to the 
east and north and the droning of 
airplane engines overhead told of our 
flying corps denying passage for ob¬ 
servers in enemy machines to witness 
the event which gladdened the hearts 
of all Jerusalem. 

“Reforming, the procession moved 
up Zion Street, to the Barrack square, 
where General Allenby received the 
notables and heads of religious com¬ 
mittees. The presentations over, the 
procession returned to the Jaffa Gate, 
and Allenby left Jerusalem.” 

716. Celebration of Triumph. 

When the people of Bethlehem, dur¬ 
ing the war between Turkey and 
Egypt, in 1836, sought the protection 
of the British consul, they “spread 
their garments in the way” of his 
horses, in order to do him honor. A 
noble carpeted all the way when a 
Persian king visited him, “besides the 
garments which loyal persons in the 
crowd spread here and there.” On 
another occasion seven miles of road 
were covered with superb silk cloths, 
over which the king, and a prince 
whom he wished to honor, rode. 

717. Examples of Triumphs. 

David was welcomed with singing 
and dancing women, out of all the 
cities of Israel, as he came back from 
the slaughter of the Philistines. 
Herodotus records that when Xerxes 
was passing over the bridge of the 
Hellespont, the way before him was 



172 


THE COMING TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION 


strewn with branches of myrtle, while 
burning perfumes fill the air. Quintius 
Curtius tells of the scattering of flow¬ 
ers in the way before Alexander the 
Great when he entered Babylon. 
Monier saw the way of a Persian ruler 
strewn with roses for three miles; 
while glass vessels filled with sugar 
were broken under his horse’s feet,— 
the sugar being symbolical of pros¬ 
perity.— Prof. Isaac Hall. 

718. The Coming Triumphal Pro¬ 
cession. 

Jesus riding in this triumphal pro¬ 
cession was an object lesson, a living 
parable, setting forth the fact that He 
was a king; that His kingdom was at 
hand; and also “the spiritual dig¬ 
nities and glory of the reign of 
Christ.” All the ideas that were in¬ 
carnated in His career, and emblazoned 
in His final sufferings and death and 
resurrection, are destined to be tri¬ 
umphant. 

Palm Sunday also prefigures the 
entire history of the church here be¬ 
low. The history of the church is 
the march of the glorious Lord Jesus 
across continents and centuries. He 
advances on the earth as on the road 
to Jerusalem, with the calm majesty 
of a sovereign; He takes possession 
of things and of men; He makes them 
His instruments and His servants, just 
as on Palm Sunday He used the ass 
which did not belong to Him, and drew 
forth a glorious homage from all those 
mouths which on that day had no voice 
but for Him. Saluted by the songs of 
all the churches in all the countries 
where His name is known, advancing 
from nation to nation, He marches 
towards the final domination of the 
whole world. 

The commerce, the railroads, the 
printing press, the inventions, the 
wealth, the whole of our civilization, 
are aiding His triumph, paving His 
way, and advancing His glory.— P. 


719. A Noble Enthusiasm. 

Those hosannas 1 Nothing else like 
them in the entire Bible except the 
convoy of the ark to Jerusalem by 
David and the song of Moses and the 
Lamb in Revelation. It is good to 
see that men and women and children 
can be so caught out of themselves by 
a noble enthusiasm. 

Once a man who was a warm ad¬ 
mirer of the great preacher, Spurgeon, 
had visiting him a friend who had 
never heard that master of Christian 
oratory. Of course the visitor was 
sent to the Metropolitan Tabernacle, 
and when he returned his host asked 
him eagerly, “Well, what did you 
think of Him?” “Nothing,” was the 
disappointing answer. “No, nothing,” 
he said again. But after a minute, 
his eyes filling with tears, he added, 
“All I can think of is the preacher’s 
Saviour !”—Amos R. Wells, D.D. 

720. Welcoming the King. 

Did you ever happen to be in the 
city of Washington when a President 
of the United States was being in¬ 
augurated? It’s a great sight. The 
country has seen a great many such 
demonstrations. One of the greatest 
of them all was the celebration in 
New York City and harbor when Ad¬ 
miral Dewey returned with his ships 
from the Philippines. Admiral Dewey 
had won a great and glorious victory 
at Manilla, one that was destined to 
change the map of the world and the 
history of nations. The people of the 
United States were filled with a 
rioutous enthusiasm for him and also 
the splendid officers and men that were 
with him at the battle of Manilla. 
When that battle-worn fleet came back 
to New York harbor the nation seemed 
to lay down the tools of industry and 
grasp a flag and wave in rejoicing. 
Any one who saw that parade in the 
streets of New York will never forget 
it nor the apparently limitless crowds 
who cheered their heroes. New York 



THE HOSANNA SPIRIT 


i 73 


harbor probably never saw such a 
crush of boats of all kinds and sizes 
as filled the harbor and the Hudson. 

It was worth something to see 
Dewey and Fullerton and Gridley on 
the bridges of the very warships where 
they had stood in battle. The thun¬ 
derous salutes of cannon that echoed 
from the tremendous buildings of the 
city and echoed from the hills of New 
Jersey were music of praise to the 
men we honored. The harbor, all 
ablaze with electric lights and fire¬ 
works, was another signal of applause. 

The world has seen many such days, 
but none so significant as that shouting 
crowd that accompanied the King of 
kings when He entered Jerusalem to 
endure and conquer the hosts of death. 

721. The Hosanna Spirit. 

Charles Spurgeon had the Hosanna 
spirit and that is what made him a 
great preacher. Read any of his ser¬ 
mons and you will have evidence of a 
man wholly absorbed in a glorious 
affection. Phillips Brooks had the 
same spirit of triumphal entry. He 
was crossing the ocean with a friend 
when one day the friend sought him, 
and found him on his knees in his 
stateroom. His clasped hands were 
raised, his eyes were full of tears, and 
he was crying out, “Jesus! Jesus 1 ” 
That is why Phillips Brooks was a 
great preacher. Once he was seen 
walking down State Street in Boston 
at the noon hour when that notable 
street was crowded with men of 
finance and their clerks; and as he 
walked, entirely unconscious of the 
throng, he pealed out at the top of 
his magnificent voice one of the great 
hymns of the church. Phillips Brooks 
had a Hosanna soul .—Amos R. Wells , 
D.D. 

722. Passing Popularity. 

There is scarcely a day but the news¬ 
papers tell of the death in obscurity, 
and often in poverty, of some former 


popular favorite. What does the world 
care for the man who can no longer 
interest or amuse it. One of the sad 
sights in Washington, to me, is to see 
old men who had once held a promi¬ 
nent place in the political world now 
forgotten by the public they served 
and filling some little bread-and-butter 
position.— R. 

723. The Lord in His Temple. 

Now nearer and nearer draws the throng, 
Redoubling as it moves along. 

It climbs the steep; the “Golden Gate” 

It passes, pleased to celebrate 
That meek Prince riding to His throne— 
While rings in ever rising tone, 
“Hosanna!” 

Still the same motley groups appear. 
Blind, lame and poor are ever near; 

Still venal traders plot for greed; 

Stalk priest and scribe of slippery creed. 
Oh, for the Christ, and Christ-like men; 
While sweet child-voices plead again— 
“Hosanna!” 

724. Christ as King. 

When Mr. Dawson was preaching in 
South Lambeth on the offices of 
Christ, he presented Him as prophet, 
and priest, and then as the King of 
Saints. He marshalled patriarchs, 
kings, prophets, and apostles, martyrs, 
and confessors of every age and clime, 
to place the insignia of royalty upon 
the head of the King of kings. The 
audience were wrought up to the high¬ 
est pitch of excitement, and, as if 
waiting to hear the anthem peal out 
the coronation hymn, the preacher 
commenced singing “All hail the power 
of Jesus’ Name.” The audience ris¬ 
ing as one man, sang the hymn as 
perhaps it was never sung before. 

725. Triumphal Procession to Come. 

There is to be a great triumphal 
procession in which Jesus will one day 
be the leader; for in that day He will 
call forth all His resources, and will 
march in real triumph! The great 
procession of the universe is yet to 
come; for the day is coming when the 
Son of man will return to this earth 
“in His glory, and all the holy angels 




174 


QUICK REVERSES OF FEELING 


with Him.” The apostle John tells 
us, “I saw heaven opened, and be¬ 
hold, a white horse; and He that sat 
thereon, called Faithful and True.” 
“And the armies which are in heaven 
followed Him on white horses, clothed 
in fine linen, white and pure, and He 
hath on His garment and on His 
thigh written a name, KING OF 
KINGS and LORD OF LORDS. 

Commerce, railroads, printing presses, 
inventions, wealth, civilization are aid¬ 
ing His triumph, paving His way, and 
advancing His glory. All are cast 
down before Him in His onward 
march. And all the redeemed, ten thou¬ 
sand times ten thousand and thousands 
of thousands, are singing hosannas to 
Him, and joining in the song, “Worthy 
is the Lamb that was slain to receive 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and 
strength, and honor, and glory, and 
blessing.” Jesus still weeps over those 
who refuse to come to Him to be 
saved. But His triumph is increasing 
and soon— 

“The gospel banner wide unfurled 
Shall wave in triumph o’er the world; 
And every creature, bond and free, 
Shall hail the glorious jubilee.” 

726. Palm Sunday. 

Where Zion’s temple lifts on high 
Its golden splendors toward God’s sky,. 
What comes this way with loud acclaim? 
A strange processional, aflame 
With fresh green boughs and waving palms. 
Round one most kingly, chanting psalms— 
“Hosanna l” 

Hear now the sweet-voiced children sing, 
Whose unstained hearts best know the King. 
Here wait sad groups of blind and lame, 
In eager hope of Him who came 
To heal all ills—of flesh, of souls— 

While joyously that chorus rolls— 
“Hosannal” 

Once more the day of palms is nigh, 
God’s holy temple still lifts high 

Its blue-arched dome, its sunfilled sky; 
Nay, L,ord, Thy temple-fane am I— 

Thy dwelling-place! Abide in me, 

O Christ, and let me sing for Thee— 
“Hosanna!” 

Come to my temple, Lord—Thine own. 
Scourge out the sin and take Thy throne. 
Heal Thou my eyes, that I may see; 

My feet, that I may speed for Thee. 
Dwell in this temple, . O my king. 

So, with the children will I sing 

“Hosanna.” — S. T. Kidder, D.D. 


727. We Would See Jesus. 

A clergyman found one Sunday on 
his Bible a slip of paper, placed there 
by some member of his congregation, 
on which was written, “Sir, we would 
see Jesus.” The pastor felt distressed, 
but was not offended. He set out to 
examine himself humbly and sincerely. 
The result was that he made the sad 
but happy discovery that the people 
were justified in making the above 
request. He thereupon “went into the 
desert place,” and within a short time 
he found in his pulpit another slip of 
paper with the following words, “Then 
were the disciples glad, when they saw 
the Lord.” 

728. Quick Reverses of Feeling. 

The human heart is a strange thing. 
How it can love, and how it can hate, 
and sometimes, oh sometimes, that 
which it loves to-day it comes to hate 
to-morrow. It ought not to be like 
that in this world. The “Hosanna” 
song, if sung from any life, should 
never be forgotten; its echoes should 
never cease to sound. Love ought to 
last, devotion ought to endure, con¬ 
stancy is a rare jewel. 

Palm Sunday was the day of over¬ 
flowing emotionalism. It was a wild, 
unbalanced crowd that surged over 
Olivet from Bethany and out to Olivet 
from Jerusalem. Emotionalism wins 
no battles, subdues no passions, checks 
no evils, rights no wrongs. The emo¬ 
tions that can be excited to wild cries 
of Hosanna, Hallelujah, can also be 
excited to cursings and maledictions. 
The figure that emotion sets upon the 
colt to-day, it will hang upon the 
cross to-morrow. The lips that will 
cry “Hosanna to our King” to-day, 
will cry to-morrow “We have no king 
but Caesar.” 

729. Raleigh and the Queen. 

This strewing of garments in the 
way was somewhat on the principle 



THE ENTHRONED CHRIST 


i 7 S 


that actuated the heart of young Sir 
Walter Raleigh when, on Queen Eliz¬ 
abeth coming to a miry part of the 
road, and hesitating for an instant 
how to step across, he “took off his 
new plush mantle, and spread it on the 
ground. Her majesty trod gently over 
the fair foot-cloth .”—James Morison. 

730. The Orient To-day. 

“Took the branches of the Palm 
Trees, and went forth to meet him.” 
More than two centuries before the 
Palm Sunday events, Simon Macca- 
bseus, having compelled the submis¬ 
sion of the enemy which held the for¬ 
tress of Jerusalem, “entered into it— 
with thanksgiving, and branches of 
palm trees, and with harps, and cym¬ 
bals, and with viols, and hymns, and 
songs.”— Howie. 

731. Welcoming Monarch’s Ap¬ 

proach. 

Going out to meet an approaching 
guest, and escorting him to one’s house 
with a show of honor, is a common 
custom throughout the East. A ruler 
of any sort, or a conquering hero, is 
welcomed in that way as a matter of 
course. Thus it was that Abraham 
was welcomed by the kings of Canaan 
when he returned from his pursuit of 
Chedorlaomer; that Jephthah was 
welcomed by his daughters and her 
companions ; that David was welcomed 
by singing and dancing women, out 
of all the cities of Israel, as he came 
back from the slaughter of the Philis¬ 
tines. 

732. Two Royal Progresses. 

The immense host which accom¬ 
panied Xerxes in his attempted con¬ 
quest of Greece—a concourse gathered 
together from the Indies to the Lybian 
desert; a sea of nations rolling on 
the serried waves, with turbans and 
helmets of brass and steel, of silver 
and gold—were seven days and seven 
nights without intermission, and under 


the stimulus of the lash, in crossing the 
boat-bridges of the Hellespont; and 
as they took up their line of march, 
they all moved on with exultation, and 
strewed branches in the pathway of 
their king. But what a contrast in 
spirit, in purpose, in result, between 
that occasion and this. There a vast 
army, held together by the hands 
of military force, and moving in abject 
submission; here, a spontaneous mul¬ 
titude, kindling with the impulses of 
wonder and love. That, marching to 
the work of terror and of desolation; 
this, celebrating the achievement of a 
healing and restoring goodness. Here, 
among a rejoicing people, with eyes 
that had been blind, turned toward him 
in beaming gratitude; with tongues 
that had been dumb, crying hosannas 
to His name; with hands that once 
were impotent, strewing branches and 
garments in His path, comes the King 
of Israel, the Saviour of mankind, in 
humble raiment and wayworn sandals 
riding upon an ass. 

733. Riding Asses in the Orient. 

“Fear not, Daughter of Zion: Be¬ 
hold thy King cometh, sitting on an 
ass’s colt.” Some Orientals have had 
reason to fear their kings, who came 
riding on war horses and chariots, as 
much as their conquerors. Hints of 
this may be detected in 1 Kings 12: 
11; 2 Kings 21:16; 23:35; 15:20. 
But the fact of riding a colt is the 
sign of meekness, is a sign that there 
is nothing to fear and everything to 
hope. The religious leaders of the 
Druse sect still ride on asses, as a mat¬ 
ter of conscience, but others also find 
the ass quite sufficient for riding pur¬ 
poses. A well-kept ass shoulders a 
burden of two hundred pounds, and 
carries it a distance of twenty miles 
in six hours.— Howie. 

734. The Enthroned Christ. 

In the beautiful cathedral of Orvieto, 
among its brilliantly decorated orna- 




176 


THE INVISIBLE PROCESSION 


ments of sculptures and paintings, is 
one of Fra Angelico’s greatest works, 
“Christ Enthroned.” By his left hand 
he steadies the globe. His right hand 
is raised in divine supremacy. But in 
that hand is the print of the nail. And 
it is the wounded hand that is so 
raised; it is by that hand that he con¬ 
trols the world! Ah, it was by His 
sufferings that He became the en¬ 
throned Christ. His earthly crown 
was the crown of thorns. And our 
beloved who have gained their crowns 
—kings and priests and conquerors 
they—owe their victory to His cross 
alone. The disciple is not above his 
Master; but every one when he is 
perfected shall be as his Master. 
Sharing with Him labor and sacri¬ 
fice, they are enthroned with Him. 
“Ye are they that have continued 
with Me in My trials; and I appoint 
you a kingdom, even as My Father 
appointed unto me, that ye may eat 
and drink at My table in My king¬ 
dom; and ye shall sit on thrones.” 

With the glorious company of the 
apostles, the goodly fellowship of the 
prophets, and the noble army of 
martyrs, they lift their praise to Him 
who loved them and washed their sins 
by His blood. If now they could 
speak to us from their illuminated 
homes, they would admonish us to be 
faithful unto death, and would assure 
us of the crown of life, of which they 
well know, but concerning which we 
vaguely wonder .—Burdett Hart. 

735. Queen’s Jubilee Procession. 

For the Queen of England’s jubilee 
(beginning June 20, 1897), to celebrate 
the completion of her sixtieth year as 
queen, the longest reign in English 
history, and the most glorious, the 
greatest preparations were made for 
the procession through London. Single 
houses along the route were rented for 
the occasion at $50,000, and single 
windows at $150 apiece. No Roman 
triumph was ever so magnificent, or 


meant a millionth part as much for 
good. The whole empire was en¬ 
thused ; Princes of India and premiers 
of the eleven self-governed colonies, 
with their suites and soldiers brought 
brilliancy to the show, and demon¬ 
strated the extent of the military re¬ 
sources of the empire. The six-mile 
route of the procession was embel¬ 
lished with the costume of Zaptiehs 
from Cyprus, Houssas from the Niger, 
troopers from the Cape, mounted rifle¬ 
men from Australia, artillerymen 
from Canada, and Sikhs and Ghoorkas 
from India, following the open state 
coach of Britain’s queen. Through¬ 
out the gala week bonfires were lighted 
on the hilltops of the United Kingdom, 
London was illuminated like Paris for 
a fete night, there were court cere¬ 
monies and military and naval re¬ 
views at Aldershot and Portsmouth, 
and in brief, nothing was left undone 
to stir British pride and stimulate 
British loyalty. And yet far greater 
was the “choir invisible”; far more 
glorious the religious, moral, literary, 
and scientific improvements made to 
bless the people which invisibly ac¬ 
companied every procession. 

736. Casting Our Garments. 

As those people cast their garments 
before Jesus as he rode in triumph, so 
we should cast our talents, our money, 
our time, our deeds of love, all that 
we have and are, before Him, and do 
all that we can to aid His cause, and 
hasten His success. He is riding in 
triumph even now through the ages, 
and through all lands. 

“Ride on triumphantly; behold, we lay 
Our lusts and proud wills in Thy way.” 

737. The Invisible Procession. 

If Christ had opened the eyes of 
those looking upon this scene as the 
eyes of Elisha’s servant were opened, 
so that they might see the invisible, 
and hear the inaudible, no pen could 
picture the real triumphal procession. 



THE BLESSEDNESS OF BEING NEEDED 


177 


They would have seen the vest multi¬ 
tudes whom He had healed and com¬ 
forted and saved from sin,—Lazarus 
and Bartimeus, the ten lepers, the 
widow of Nain’s son, the ruler’s 
daughter, Peter’s mother-in-law, a host 
of those whom He had raised from 
the dead, those from whom He had 
cast out devils, the blind He had made 
to see, and the lame that now walked, 
the lepers He had cleansed, those who 
had been delivered from the bondage 
of their sins and brought into the light 
of the gospel. There would join them 
the angels who sang at His birth, 
Moses and Elijah, who appeared on 
the Mount of Transfiguration, and the 
twelve legions of angels He once 
said were ready at His call. Heaven 
would swiftly have emptied itself, 
and’all its choirs would joyfully have 
come down to do Him honor, and sing 
their songs of joy over many sinners 
brought to repentance. 

The triumphs of Caesar and Pompey 
were but child’s play to this. Not all 
of earth’s monarchs together could 
have summoned such a procession. 
Imagination fails to paint the picture 
of Christ’s real triumphal procession. 

738. Smooth the Way 

It mattered little to Jesus whether 
the Jews welcomed Him as their King 
or not. It matters everything to Him 
whether we welcome Him as Lord 
into our hearts or not. Let us greet 
Him as Lord of our lives with shout 
and song. And let us make smooth 
the way for Him to become Lord of 
our commerce, our politics, our in¬ 
dustry, our homes, our relationships 
with men, our international order, our 
whole realm of life. Let us shout, 
“The kingdoms of this world shall 
become the kingdoms of our Lord and 
of His Christ.” 

739. Christ Offers Himself. 

The scene on the first Palm Sunday 
tells us of Christ’s definite and final 
12 


offer of Himself as King. The “colt” 
was the symbol of royalty and peace. 
Riding on the “colt” Christ announces 
Himself to be the Prince of Peace. 
This Matthew declares to have been in 
fulfillment of Zachariah’s prophecy. 
But the full and final completion of 
Zachariah’s prophecy depended upon 
the nation’s acceptance of the King. 

This the nation refused to do. The 
multitude acclaimed Him King, but 
the Jews as a people refused to accept 
Him. Their own Scriptures were 
abundantly fulfilled on this Palm Sun¬ 
day, but their prejudices blinded them 
and the last opportunity that they had 
passed from them.— Rev. John F. Car- 
son, D.D. 

740. The Blessedness of Being 
Needed. 

“The Lord hath need of him.” 
Mark 11:3. “No, I can’t go this va¬ 
cation,” said the young teacher. “I’m 
the eldest daughter, you know, and 
when I’m out of school there are end¬ 
less things to be done at home. Mother 
isn’t very strong, help is hard to get 
and unreliable, and the children are 
always needing something.” Was there 
a touch of impatience in her tone? 
Her friend, older by many years, 
watched the healthy, capable girl as 
she turned from one task to another 
—ready to help father with the gather¬ 
ing up and arranging of his papers, 
deftly tying the bows and managing 
refractory buttons for the little ones, 
then donning a big apron for the 
kitchen and “the gingerbread that no¬ 
body makes like Millie.” The whole 
household turned to her. “Oh, you 
fortunate girl!” breathed the friend 
between a smile and a sigh. “I wonder 
whether you realize the most blessed 
thing in all this world is to be needed.” 

Oh the blessednes of being needed! 
The Lord hath need of thee!— H. 



178 SPREADING YOUR GARMENTS BEFORE HIM 


741. The Kingly Christ. 

Jesus accepted the acclaim of the 
jmultitude, but He was not surprised 
at the denial of that claim by the Jews. 
He knew that He would not be re¬ 
ceived in Jerusalem as King. On this 
very day, when the multitudes were 
shouting His praises, He wept over 
Jerusalem and announced its impend¬ 
ing destruction. That shows that He 
had no thought of being received as 
King. He had clearly made known to 
His disciples that He knew all that 
was awaiting Him; the treachery and 
the betrayal; the forsaking and the 
loneliness; the cruel scourging and the 
bitter agony of the cross; the heart¬ 
break and the death. He knew it all 
and was calm. The people shouted 
their hosannas, but He was not elated. 
They hailed Him as King, but He was 
not exalted. It was not the calmness 
of indifference, or insensibilitly, or de¬ 
spair. He was calm because of His 
consciousness that His hour was fast 
approaching. His heart responded to 
the tribute of the people, but it was 
deeper touched by their needs. Amid 
all the excitement Jesus rode on, not 
to the crown, but to the cross. 

“Ride on, ride on in majesty! 

In lowly pomp, ride on to die! 

Bow thy meek head to mortal pain, 

Then take, O God, Thy power and 
reign.” 

— Rev. John F. Carson, D. D. 

742. Garment Givers. 

Have you not sometimes wished that 
you had been there to see our dear 
Lord as He rode into Jerusalem on 
that long-ago day, while his followers 
out of their love and loyalty “spread 
their garments before Him”? 

In a better, dearer way you may see 
Him this year, as “along the King’s 
Highway” He goes forth with our 
missionaries to enter heathen cities and 
homes across the sea. 

And you may show your love and 
loyalty to Him by spreading at His 


dear feet some of your garments (or 
the value of them). Will you? 

743. Spreading Your Garments Be¬ 

fore Him. 

Long ago Sir Walter Raleigh spread 
his cloak (a handsome one, no doubt), 
before his queen to protect her feet 
from the mud and soil of the street. 
What about the coat you will buy this 
season? Could you send the worth of 
it to protect our queens, brave mis¬ 
sionaries, girls who “for the sake of 
the Name” fare forth to walk mid the 
filth and slime of heathenism? 

The second coat, the second blouse, 
the second suit! How their worth 
would protect these queens—from the 
wild animals as we wall their com¬ 
pounds, from poisonous insects as we 
screen their houses, from sun rays as 
we build their verandas, or from dis¬ 
ease as we remove unsanitary condi¬ 
tions ! 

Is it too much to hope for the worth 
of some sets of furs? Why not? 
The second set would warm your 
heart as the first could not begin to 
warm your shoulders 1 

If not coats of fur, what about the 
pretty shoes that have been your pride 
and delight. The second pair “spread 
before Him” would entitle you to that 
sweet old compliment, “How beautiful 
... .are the feet of him that publisheth 
peace 1” 

Then the gloves—oh, the gloves— 
short, long, silk, kid, washable, wear- 
able, “givable.” Why not hundreds and 
hundreds to spread before our King? 

Still He rides on, pausing now and 
then “to sit over against the treasury” 
and to note the women and girls who 
share with Him the best garment they 
can afford. Still he says: 

“I g ave , I gave My life for thee. 

What hast thou given to Me?” 

744. The Two Epiphanies. 

There were two manifestations of 
our Lord to the Gentiles. One took 



EAST AND WEST COMING TO CHRIST 


179 


place at the beginning and the other 
at the close of his life. The Magi, 
the wise men of the East, came to the 
cradle of Jesus; the Greeks, the wise 
men of the West, came to His cross. 
The old world of the East, with its 
exhausted history and completed reve¬ 
lation, came to the cradle of the Child 
of Promise to receive a fresh impulse, 
to share in the new creation of God 
and rejuvenescence of the world. The 
new world of the West with its mobile 
life, its ever expanding history, its 
glowing hopes and aspirations, came 
to the cross of the Redeemer that it 
might receive a deeper earnestness and 
a higher consecration.— H. H. 

745. Promise of Much Fruit. 

“And there were certain Greeks,” 
etc. John 12:20. The trivial request 
was as a narrow window through 
which Jesus’ yearning spirit saw a 
great expanse—nothing less than the 
coming to Him of myriads of Gentiles, 
the “much fruit” of which He im¬ 
mediately speaks, the “other sheep” 
whom He “must bring.” The thought 
must have been ever present to Him 
or it would never have leaped to utter¬ 
ance on such an occasion. The little 
windows shows us, too, what was 
habitually in His mind and heart. He, 
as it were, hears the striking of the 
hour of His glorification; in which 
expression the ideas of His being 
glorified by drawing men to the 
knowledge of His love, and to the 
cross being not the lowest depth of 
his humiliation, but the highest apex 
of His glory—as it is always repres- 
sented in this Gospel—seems to be 
fused together.— Rev. A. M. McLaren, 
D.D. 

746. Riding On an Ass. 

Not with the pomp and ceremony of 
a conquering hero, but humbly riding 
on an ass, the mode of conveyance of 
the common people, with grief and 
tears over the prophetic vision of un¬ 


repentant and unbelieving Jerusalem 
overrun and destroyed at the hands 
of despoilers, has the King come to 
His own and His own received Him 
not. For, although so many hailed 
Him as the anointed and the coming 
One, the Jewish hierarchy, priests 
and elders, scribes and Pharisees, re¬ 
jected Him, were even then plotting 
His destruction, and soon most of the 
volatile crowd would be submissive 
spectators of His crucifixion. The 
first Palm Sunday had been inaugu¬ 
rated, but its events, soul-stirring and 
momentous as they were, had in them 
the beginning of the agony in Gethse- 
mane, the death on Calvary, the tomb 
in the garden, and the revivifying glad¬ 
ness of Easter. 

747. East and West Coming to 
Christ. 

This is a companion picture to the 
visit of the Magi—science and thought 
seeking Christ. The Magi, on the one 
side, are the representatives of the 
world’s godly scientists, the forerun¬ 
ners of the Galileos, the Keplers, the 
Newtons, and the Faradays, who never 
stop at laws but reach to their Giver, 
“from nature rise to nature’s God;” 
who refuse to see the world as a stage 
only on which man may stand or strut, 
may display his energy or magnify 
his energy or magnify his pride, but 
who sees it as an “altar-stair that 
slopes through darkness up to God,” 
and on which it becomes man to kneel 
and pray. The Greeks, on the other 
side, are the representatives of the 
world’s godly philosophers, the the- 
istic thinkers; they are the forerun¬ 
ners of the Augustines, the Aquinases, 
the Anselms, and the Pascals—the men 
who rescue philosophy from being the 
painted priestess of pride and purify 
her to be the sweet handmaid of 
Christ. “Where is He that is born 
King of the Jews?” “Sir, we would 
see Jesus.”— G. M. G. 



i8o 


THE INQUIRING GREEKS 


748. Homage and Praise. Matt. 

21:1-17. 

If obedience enters essentially into 
a triumph, homage and praise must 
have just as important a place. If 
all the Russians were as cold and 
desperate as some of the revolution¬ 
ists, what profit would there be in 
holding the nominal title of czar? It 
is the joyful acclaim of the lips and 
the warm support of the heart that 
make kingship mean something. Jesus 
was not without this essential part. 
The spreading of the garments and 
the branches was expressive of an 
adoration befittingly accompanied by 
the oral praise of the Galilean multi¬ 
tude. In fact, this support, of the 
royal claims of Jesus came chiefly 
from the people of the northern prov¬ 
ince, while the Judeans for the most 
part mocked or looked on in silent 
contempt. Some, it is true, were 
roused from their apathy and asked 
what was the meaning of all the com¬ 
motion. “This is Jesus the prophet of 
Nazareth of Galilee,” was the answer. 
A recognition of superiority must al¬ 
ways go along with a granted triumph. 
—Religious Telescope. 

749. The Inquiring Greeks. 

“And there were certain Greeks,” 
etc. John 12:20. These Greeks be¬ 
longed to those numerous Gentiles who, 
like the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8), 
had embraced Judaism and came to 
Jerusalem to keep its festivals. They 
must be carefully distinguished from 
the Jews (Hellenists), speaking the 
Greek language, who dwelt in heathen 
lands. The spacious court of the Gen¬ 
tiles was devoted to these proselytes 
according to the words of Solomon 
(1 Kings 8: 41-43). If these strangers 
witnessed the entry of Jesus and were 
present at the expulsion of the sellers 
—an act by which Jesus restored to 
its proper use the only part of the 
sanctuary open to them—we can all 
the better appreciate their desire for 


nearer acquaintance with such a per¬ 
son. Assuredly they did not, like 
Zachseus, want merely to see Jesus 
with their bodily eyes; for such a 
purpose there was no need of Philip’s 
intervention, since they might have 
seen Him as He passed through the 
court. Besides, the solemnity of our 
Lord’s reply obliges us to attribute a 
more serious intention to this step. 
What they desired was to have a pri¬ 
vate conversation on religious subjects. 
How do we know even whether, having 
witnessed the opposition He encoun¬ 
tered from the rulers of his own na¬ 
tion, they did not desire to invite Him 
to turn to the Gentiles who would 
better appreciate such a sage than 
these bigoted Jews? Eusebius has 
preserved the memory of an embassy 
sent to Jesus by Abgarus, king of 
Edessa, in Syria, to invite Him to 
take up His abode with him, and to 
promise Him such a royal welcome 
as should compensate Him for the 
obstinacy with which the Jews re¬ 
jected Him. This fact is not without 
resemblance to the one in the text, and 
in which we behold, in one of the first 
demonstrations of the heathen world 
in favor of the Gospel, the first in¬ 
dication of that attraction which its 
moral beauty was soon to exercise over 
the whole human race.— F. G. 

750. The Tears of Jesus. 

Strangely mysterious are these 
tears! But they were as real as they 
are mysterious—solemnly and awfully 
real—the bitterness that ever de¬ 
scended from a grief-stricken coun¬ 
tenance. They were the tears of a 
man, but the expression of Deity; and 
viewing them in the light of the an¬ 
cient love and peculiar complacency 
with which Jerusalem and its inhabit¬ 
ants had been divinely regarded, we 
may designate them as the tears of 
disappointed affection. How briny and 
how many have been such tears, as 
they have fallen, hot and scalding, 



THE KING NEEDS SOMETHING I HAVE 


181 


from the eyes of broken-hearted weep¬ 
ers ! There are the tears of the fa¬ 
ther, welling up from the depths of 
parental love, in thinking of his prod¬ 
igal boy. There are the tears of the 
mother, wept over a lost daughter— 
tears that had been less bitter had the 
green turf received them instead of a 
memory of shame. Bitter, indeed, are 
such tears, but not so intensive of sor¬ 
row as “the tears of Jesus wept over 
lost souls.” I have read somewhere of 
a traveller who found the fragment of 
an arch among the ruins of Jerusalem; 
and by calculating on the principles of 
architectural construction, he proved 
that the arch, when complete, must 
have spanned the gulf that was near 
the city, and have rested on the other 
side. That ruined arch, to the eye 
of that traveller, indicated what it 
originally was, as contrasted with 
what it then was. Sin in the soul re¬ 
veals the same thing. In man, apart 
from sin, we see what the soul was 
made to be. In sin we see what the 
soul is—a noble thing in ruins.— G. H. 
Jackson. 

751. The King Needs Something 

I Have. 

“And found the colt tied,” etc. 
Mark 11:45. Whenever He sends 
word that He has need of something: 
a colt, an upper room for a meeting 
and a feast, a life—either your own 
or your child’s—to be spent in some 
distant land, an income to be put back 
of somebody’s life so sent out, a life 
to be lived, gently and strongly for 
Him, in social circles at home,—what¬ 
ever it be, we will say with a glad 
ringing voice, “the King needs some¬ 
thing I have. What a delight! He 
needs something. I have it. He asks 
for it. Isn’t it splendid that I am able 
to give what He asks 1 ” 

752. The Triumphal Christ Bless¬ 

ing Men. 

The lesson of the triumphal entry 
will fail of its purpose if it leaves un¬ 


said and unwritten the facts of His 
glory being proclaimed to-day in 
hearts and lives made better, sweeter 
by His words of power; and we pro¬ 
claim Him King when we offer for 
His use time, talents, wealth, char¬ 
acter, and, in fact, all we have and are! 

A Persian fable says: One day 

A wanderer found a lump of clay, 

So redolent of sweet perfume 
Its odors scented all the room. 

“What art thou?” was his quick demand; 
“Art thou some gem from Samarcand, 

Or spikenard in this rude disguise. 

Or other costly merchandise?” 

“Nay, I am but a lump of clay.” 

“Then, whence this wondrous perfume, 
—say?” 

“Friend, if the secret I disclose, 

I have been dwelling with the rose.” 

Sweet parable! and will not those 

Who love to dwell with Sharon’s Rose, 
Distill sweet odors all around. 

Though low and mean themselves are 
found? 

Dear Lord, abide with us, that we 
May draw our perfume fresh from Thee. 

753. Our Lord’s One Earthly Tri¬ 
umph. 

There is something pathetic and 
deeply significant in the incidents of 
Palm Sunday. On that day our 
Master, entering Jerusalem, enjoyed 
His one earthly triumph. And what a 
triumph was His! 

No kingly equipage, no body-guard 
in glittering helmets, with spears at 
rest and swords clanking by their 
sides; no obsequious courtiers, no roy¬ 
al purple, no golden canopy. But the 
King of kings came riding on the 
humblest of beasts; and it was only 
the humblest of people who spread 
their garments, and cast the palm 
branches before Him. But yet it was 
a triumph wonderfully typical of Him. 
The common people acclaimed Him, 
though the Pharisees and rulers and 
mighty ones had no part in the trium¬ 
phal entry. The rough garments of 
the laboring men over which He rode 
were more significant than the costli¬ 
est rugs would have been, for they 
told of the love of the common people. 

The branches stripped from the way- 
side trees for the occasion told the 



EASY HOPE OF THE KINGDOM 


182 


world for all time that not costly 
jewels and waving plumes and marble 
pavements were necessary to do honor 
to the Lord of all, but only the gifts 
that any one can give, prompted by the 
heart’s love of the giver. 

Such is one of the great lessons of 
Palm Sunday. 

454. The Kingdom That Is to 
Come. 

“Behold thy King cometh unto thee.” 
Zech. 9:9. 

When Queen Victoria, on the fif¬ 
tieth anniversary of her coronation, 
walked the aisles of Westminster Ab¬ 
bey, she crossed the grave of Living¬ 
stone, on which are inscribed the words 
of Christ, “Other sheep I have which 
are not of this fold.” These words 
on that heroic grave are surely a 
great, sweet prophecy of the gather¬ 
ing of all nations beneath one spirit¬ 
ual banner. Of that majestic kingdom 
whose outlines already appear, the 
Universal Book is the harbinger, sym¬ 
bol, and molding power, more lumi¬ 
nous, attractive, and divine than our 
present imperfect and divided Chris¬ 
tendom.— Rev. J. H. Barrows, D.D. 

755. Making Our Churches His 
Own. 

“And Jesus entered into Jerusalem 
and into the temple.” Mark 11:11. 
The Baptists have a wonderful mis¬ 
sion in Korea. One poor woman, liv¬ 
ing outside the town, heard what won¬ 
derful things happened at this mission 
place where the name of Jesus was 
preached, so she walked into the town 
to attend the services. Not knowing 
where the mission hall was, nor by 
what name it was called, she asked if 
any one could show her the way to 
the place where they cured the 
broken heart; and she was directed 
to the Baptist mission. If men and 
women came as strangers into our 
town, and asked to be directed to the 
place where they cured the broken 


heart, would the people of our streets 
say: “I know the place you mean; 
it is the church yonder. The Healer 
of men, the good Physician, is always 
there?” The temple in our Lord’s 
day was not such a place. May He 
make our churches His own. May we 
on this Palm Sunday resolve anew 
that we will try to make the individual 
church we know and attend a place 
for the Lord’s abode and working.— H. 

756. Easy Hope of the Kingdom. 

“Blessed be the kingdom of our 
father David, that cometh in the name 
of the Lord.” Mark 11: 10. A simi¬ 
lar ecstasy of indolent hope was created 
in the Turkish Empire a few years 
ago by the proclamation of a consti¬ 
tution with equal citizenship for all 
creeds and races within its bounds. 
But when the call came for united 
effort on behalf of the empire it was 
found that the old hostilities of race 
and religion were still there, and spe¬ 
cial interests clamored and intrigued 
for private advantage though the em¬ 
pire as a whole should break up and 
disappear. 

A similar infatuation of vain hope 
is being repeated to-day in Judea. The 
Zionists, by means of abundant funds 
at their disposal, have been buying up 
lands, houses, and shops, and taking 
over local industries in Jaffa, Jerusa¬ 
lem, and other towns in Palestine, and 
have thus aroused the angry suspi¬ 
cions of Arabic Moslems and Oriental 
Christians. A movement was origi¬ 
nally planned for providing a quiet 
place of refuge for distressed Russian 
Jews suddenly became a fantastic po¬ 
litical ambition for setting up Jewish 
national rule in the land. Colleges and 
schools for teaching Hebrew were es¬ 
tablished, Hebrew stamps were secretly 
issued, Hebrew posters were set up in 
public places in various towns, and in 
various ways the inhabitants were made 
aware that the conquest had been com¬ 
pleted, and that they must come to 



GARMENTS AND FLOWERS 


183 


terms with their new masters. As a 
mob riot was imminent, and as inter¬ 
national complications would follow, 
seeing that most of the Jewish immi¬ 
grants were foreign subjects, the Turk¬ 
ish Government has decided that Zion¬ 
ism must be suppressed.— Rev. G. L. 
Mackey. 

757. Boys and Girls in the Pro¬ 

cession. 

No one is too humble, too young, 
too poor, too ignorant to join in this 
hosanna to the Redeemer. Once a 
missionary was called to an obscure 
village of India to baptize and receive 
into church fellowship sixty or seventy 
converts from Hinduism. The pro¬ 
ceedings were eagerly watched by a 
lad of fifteen who sat in the rear of 
the room, and who came forward when 
the examination of the others was 
complete. The missionary, on learning 
that he also wanted to join the church, 
sought to dissuade him on account of 
his youth, fearing that he might back¬ 
slide and so bring discredit upon the 
church. The missionary said he would 
return in about six months, and he 
advised the boy to wait till then. At 
once all the men and women sprang 
up and cried, “Why, he is the one who 
has taught us all we know about Jesus 
Christ!” And it was so. 

Doubtless there were boys and girls 
in that triumphal procession in Jeru¬ 
salem. Certainly there were many 
poor and humble folks.— A. R. Wells. 

758. Garments and Flowers. 

The roadway of the far East are 
and always have been rough, rutty and 
unsightly with refuse. We welcome 
a foreign notable by putting at his 
disposal a private car; the people of 
our Lord’s time covered the highways 
with their garments, their robes being 
not unlike our lighter rugs. When 
Lafayette re-visited our shores he was 
welcomed by multitudes of children 
who scattered roses in the way before 


palms. But the palm has been from 
his steed. We have more roses than 
time immemorial the emblem of victory 
in the East, its long, pendulous fronds 
carried in the hand giving beauty and 
grace to a popular reception.— H. D. 
Jenkins, D.D. 

759. Temple-Cleaning. 

“When He had looked around.” 
What did he see? You are His temple; 
what does He see ? In these temples of 
His He sees all kinds of “business” 
that has no business to be there. And 
which wouldn’t be there if Christ 
should come in. The minute Christ 
comes in things are bound to happen. 
Out go the “merchants,” and ofttimes 
these long-intrenched rascals cause 
great commotion and excitement in 
their going (Luke 9:42). 

760. “Lo, the World Is Gone After 

Him.” 

Even the critics of Jesus were 
alarmed at the demonstration. But 
they were mistaken; the world had 
not taken up his real program at all. 
The world has not gone after Him 
yet, though for two thousand years 
His “Follow Me” has sounded more 
or less clearly above the jangled dis¬ 
cords of human affairs. 

Crowning Christ King was no such 
simple matter as the Galileans im¬ 
agined. There were selfish interests 
to be overthrown. There was en¬ 
trenched wrong in the church as well 
as in the state. They themselves com¬ 
pletely failed to realize what Jesus 
meant by his efforts. To put Him 
on a throne at Jerusalem was no part 
of His method at all. Their own 
hearts were not right. 

You can’t welcome the King with¬ 
out welcoming the kind of Kingdom 
that He stands for. They sang 
“Blessed is the Kingdom that cometh,” 
but they thought it would be like Da¬ 
vid’s. These things understood not 
even His disciples. 




184 


CHILDREN’S HOSANNAS 


Jesus looks down upon us as we 
sing and wave our palms and says 
again, “Why call ye Me Lord, Lord, 
and do not the things which I say?” 

761. The Lesson of the Triumph. 

As a symbolic fact this triumphal 
entry has a great lesson. It was 
a prophecy (and probably intended as 
such by Jesus), of his ulitmate triumph 
over the cities of the world. To me 
one of the great proofs of Jesus' 
unique divinity is His Godlike pre¬ 
science. In the midst of apparent 
failure of His cause He saw its sure 
and ultimate triumph. Only a few 
became His disciples, but he knew that 
some day millions would call him 
Lord. 

762. Palm Sunday. 

The day was a sunburst in the life 
of Jesus. For once the people let Him 
know their feeling and let Him hear 
their praises. It was the day of the 
triumph of the lowly Nazarene. 
Around Him thronged the multitudes, 
waving palms and shouting, “Rejoice, 
O daughter of Zion, thy King cometh 
unto thee.” 

The scene on this first Palm Sunday 
is a prophecy. It foreshadows the 
triumph of the Day when Jesus shall 
come in power and great glory as the 
King. Then the acclaim, “Hosanna, 
to the Son of David,” shall sound 
forth in its true and full expression 
and significance. The temporary tri¬ 
umph of the first Palm Sunday points 
to His ultimate triumph when He shall 
be King over all and blessed forever. 
— Rev. John F. Carson, D.D. 

763. Honoring the King’s Approach. 

“And many spread their garments in 
the way.” Mark 11:8. It was cus¬ 
tomary to make a great to-do when 
kings visited cities of their kingdom. 
The people often made a new road for 
the king, and frequently carpeted it, 
making it appear that the ground was 


not good enough for their king to 
walk or ride on. So now, the people 
accompanying Jesus became suddenly 
moved by an impulse to the thought 
that He was a king and that He must 
be treated as such; that the roadway 
must be carpeted for Him. Some 
threw off their loose robes and laid 
them down before the ass, and others 
cut off branches of the palm trees, or 
other trees by the wayside, and laid 
them down as a carpet .—Herald and 
Presbyter. 

764. Children’s Hosannas. 

Of all the voices in the multitude, 
none pleased Christ more than the 
children. 

"An angel paused in his onward flight, 

With a seed of love and truth and right, 
And said, ‘Oh, where can this seed be 
sown, 

Where ’twill yield most fruit when fully 
grown ? 

To whom can this precious seed be given? 
That it will bear most fruit for earth and 
heaven?’ 

The Saviour heard, and said, as he smiled, 
‘Place it at once in the heart of a child.* *’ 

765. The Word of a King. 

“Where the word of a king is, there 
is power.” Eccles. 8:4. Familiar is 
the story of the Oriental monarch from 
whom a condemned prisoner asked for 
a goblet of water. The king bade a 
servant provide the goblet of water 
and said to the thirsty man, “You shall 
not die until you have drained the 
glass.” The moment the prisoner took 
the glass into his hand he emptied 
the water on the ground and defied 
the king to recover it. The king had 
given his word that the man should 
not die until he had drunk the water, 
and now he could never drink it. The 
king’s word was inviolate. He had 
unintentionally commuted the death- 
sentence. It is said another monarch, 
to whom a favorite had applied for a 
great favor, inquired, “Is that not too 
much to ask of me?” The favorite 
replied, “Nothing is too much to ask 
of a king.” Queen Elizabeth had a 



GARMENTS IN THE WAY 


185 


courtier who hesitated to go on a 
mission, lest his business suffer in his 
absence. She said, “Do you suppose 
I would allow you to suffer loss while 
you are doing my work?” The word 
of a monarch is supposed to be in¬ 
violate, liberal and just. It was said 
of a Caesar that he found Rome built 
of bricks and left it built of marble. 
The word of an emperor has power. 
Particularly was this true in the East, 
where most of our Scriptures were 
written. He who wrote this proverb 
may have thought only of human mon- 
archs. There was another Biblical 
writer who spoke of the power of the 
Word of the King of kings: “The 
Word of God is quick and powerful.” 

Jesus thought of Himself as a King, 
and His thoughts were royal. How 
powerful too are His words! He 
promised that His words should never 
pass away, and spoke of His power 
as embracing earth and heaven. Was 
He deluded? Nay, He was a King. 
All other kings have been His vassals. 
And His word—is it not powerful? 
It has not passed away. It has power 
over the intellects, emotions, con¬ 
sciences and wills of men. The keen¬ 
est minds and boldest souls of earth 
have been proud to be augmenters of 
Christ’s empire. The universe is full 
of power, but the power of mind is 
superior to that of natural forces, and 
the power of soul is superior to that 
of mind. Christ breathed soul into 
this world and changed its chilly at¬ 
mosphere to warmth. The power of 
Christ’s word is the power of eternal 
purpose and eternal love. — Rev. 
Charles C. Albertson, D.D. 

766. Christ Is King. 

“All power is given unto me,” etc. 
Matt. 28:18. For the various ills 
that afflict or threaten our nation one 
cure, and one alone, is sufficient, and 
that is—God; not soldiers and battle¬ 
ships and submarines and aeroplanes 
and shrapnel and money and educa¬ 


tion and good laws—but God. * * * 
We find Him in the Son. To the 
rulers it is, “Kiss the Son.” In the 
kingship of Jesus over the nations we 
find the solution of our national prob¬ 
lems and the source of national safety. 

767. The Foregleams of a Deeper 

Appreciation. 

Jesus was more profoundly stirred 
by the report of the coming of Greeks 
desiring to see Him than by all the 
shouts and palms of the multitude. 
The crowd wanted a kingdom that 
cometh with observation, with eclat, 
much palm-strewing and seats on the 
right hand and on the left. But these 
strangers from afar only said with 
reserve, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” 
They had been attracted by reports 
of His teaching and spirit. 

Jesus foresaw a great world-wide 
inquiry into the principles of His life. 
God in His own good time would 
build His Kingdom of consecrated 
souls. Those who hoped for a king¬ 
dom immediate, spectacular, secular, 
would put Him to death. But the good 
seed would spring up everywhere, not 
only among the Jews but among Gen¬ 
tiles, to the transformation of the 
earth.— Rev. G . B. Allison. 

768. Glorifying God. 

“And they that went before, and 
they that followed, cried, Hosanna; 
Blessed is He that cometh in the name 
of the Lord.” It is a part of our 
business to praise God. One business¬ 
man criticized another’s wearing a 
flower in his buttonhole, as being un¬ 
business-like. The other replied: “My 
business in die world is to glorify 
God, and I can do it by appreciating 
the beauty of a flower. I buy a flower 
and wear it. You buy a weed and 
smoke it. Which is the more business¬ 
like?” 

769. Garments in the Way. 

“And many spread their garments 
upon the way; and others branches 



186 


THE IMPULSIVE ONES 


which they had cut from the fields.” 
In 1834, when some of the inhabitants 
of Bethlehem, who had participated in 
a rebellion, were imprisoned and in 
deep distress, Mr. Farrar, the English 
Consul at Damascus, was met at the 
entrance of the city of Bethlehem by 
hundreds of people, who implored him 
to interfere in their behalf and afford 
them protection. All at once, by a 
sort of simultaneous movement, they 
spread their garments in the way be¬ 
fore his horse.— Dr. Edw. Robinson. 

770. Drew All Eyes. 

Usually Christ withdrew Himself 
from public notice. Much of His 
time was spent in remote parts of 
Palestine, not unfrequently abiding in 
the wilderness. Here and here only, 
Christ appears to drop His private 
character, and of His own choice to 
call attention to Himself. He delib¬ 
erately makes a public entry into 
Jerusalem at the head of His dis¬ 
ciples. He voluntarily rides into the 
Holy City in kingly, triumphal atti¬ 
tude, surrounded by a vast and ex¬ 
ulting multitude. The eternal Son of 
God was about to suffer death. The 
atonement for the world’s sin was 
soon to be made. We are taught the 
unspeakable importance of the death 
of Christ by the fact that He so 
ordered that it was eminently a public 
death. The triumphal entry drew all 
eyes to Him and insured that when 
He should die it should be in the 
sight of many witnesses. 

771. Palm Sunday. 

The way to capture the city for 
Christ is to go for the multitude. 
They will respond to the truth. This 
is the way to capture the villages and 
the country too. The common people 
heard Jesus gladly, and millions have 
enthroned Him in their hearts since 
that memorable march of the first 
Palm Sunday. Lust of gold, of greed 
and place, uncontrolled appetites and 


passions are dooming some cities of 
the world to destruction. Oh that 
Christ’s heart of love may turn the 
great cities of the world into His 
triumphal procession! 

772. The Triumphal Entry. 

The Object of this Riding into 
Jerusalem was to set forth as in a 
living parable that Jesus was the Mes¬ 
siah, the expected king, and to present 
Himself to the Jews for their ac¬ 
ceptance. It was the final offer to 
those who had rejected Him as a 
teacher, that they might accept Him 
as the Messiah, and save themselves 
and their nation from destruction. 

773. The Prince of Peace. 

He came as a king, but not on a 
war-horse, heralded by trumpets and 
clad in gorgeous array, for that would 
have caused the Jews to misunder¬ 
stand the nature of His kingdom as if 
it were of this world, and would, as 
Dr. Gibson says, “have raised the 
standard of revolt against the Romans, 
and been the signal for tumult, blood¬ 
shed, and disastrous war.” But He 
rode in the simplest fashion on an 
ass, the symbol of peace. 

The humblest persons, the humblest 
things are transfigured with glory and 
joy, when made the instruments of 
our Lord’s triumph. Jesus is the King 
of the whole earth; but He is the 
Prince of Peace; His victories are 
by the weapons of peace. 

774. The Impulsive Ones. 

“Took the branches of the palm 
trees, and went forth to meet Him, 
and cried out, Hosanna.” 

While traveling on a Pittsburgh day 
express, here is what I saw: A long 
line of freight cars uncoupled from 
each other. These are pushed up a 
grade by a powerful locomotive. Then 
one by one they are given a final 
push over the top of the grade. They 
run along well from the force of the 



PALMS AND THORNS 


187 


power that started them. They seem 
to keep up the speed for a while, but 
they are going down hill, running 
slower and slower until at last all are 
sidetracked at various places along the 
way. Some people are like that. They 
get going; but they are not coupled 
to the Holy Spirit, and so they go 
slower and slower until they are side¬ 
tracked along the way. 

Let us learn on our Palm Sunday to 
couple up with God, not for a momen¬ 
tary impulse but for life.— H. 

775. The Hosanna Spirit. 

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of 
Zion; shout, O daughter of Jeru¬ 
salem : behold thy King cometh unto 
thee.” Zech. 9:9. Christ puts the 
hosanna spirit into His people. I 
have read that when the late Rev. Dr. 
Theodore L. Cuyler, the celebrated 
Brooklyn divine, was visiting the 
famous London preacher, the Rev. 
Charles H. Spurgeon, that after a 
hard day of work and serious discus¬ 
sions these two mighty men of God 
went out into the country together 
for a holiday. They roamed the fields 
in high spirits like boys let loose from 
school, chatting and laughing and free 
from care. Dr. Cuyler had just told 
a story at which Pastor Spurgeon 
laughed uproariously. Then suddenly 
he turned to Dr. Cuyler, and ex¬ 
claimed, “Theodore, let’s kneel down 
and thank God for laughter!” And 
there, on the green carpet of grass, 
under the trees, two of the world’s 
greatest men knelt and thanked the 
dear Lord for the bright and joyous 
gift of laughter. 

Thank God, the Christ has put the 
hosanna spirit into people. His Gos¬ 
pel is a Gospel that sings, and shouts, 
and rejoices. 

776. Palms and Thorns. 

Life is a mixture of palms and 
thorns. They grow in the same gar¬ 
den, and are often cultivated by the 


same hands. This is largely a matter 
of choice. It requires no more effort 
to grow one than the other. Palm 
culture is the most satisfactory occu¬ 
pation in which one can engage. It 
is an effort that never fails. With 
thorns this is not true. They pierce 
the very hands that aid their growth. 
An evil habit is a thorn that one 
plants in the garden of his own life. 
It may seem insignificant at the first, 
but the possibilities of hell are in its 
roots and branches. The worst habits 
are mental. Their roots are buried 
deep within the soul. Envy is of this 
class. There are more thorn points 
upon the roots of envy than upon its 
branches. No envious man is ever 
happy. There are too many prosper¬ 
ous people for his comfort. One meets 
this type of humanity so often. It 
finds a reason for all success outside 
of honor. That man has planted a 
thorn within his own heart. It may 
give another pain; it certainly will 
react and pierce him. Sin is the 
generic name for thorn culture. There 
are different species all traceable to 
the one common stock. He who sins 
dies to his own manhood. He fos¬ 
ters a thorn that is yet to pierce him 
through. 

Palm growth finds its highest effi¬ 
ciency in the Christian religion. The 
ancients said that from the blood of 
Hycainthus sprang a flower. The 
thought illustrates a beautiful truth. 
From the blood of the Christ sprang 
a thousand palms, with which we may 
beautify and render more joyous this 
way of life. We all have in a measure 
the happiness of others within our own 
hands. Whether they step upon a 
thorn or a palm lies with us. A kind 
word is a palm leaf. It costs nothing, 
and may mean so very much. It is an 
unfortunate experience, and yet one 
common to all, that we often find our 
palms, where the Christ did His, out¬ 
side of Jerusalem .—Presbyterian Jour¬ 
nal. 



188 


INVISIBLE WOUNDS 


777. Jesus Welcomed. 

Jesus’ entry was much like the 
homecoming of the star on the debat¬ 
ing team of a great university. Every¬ 
body turns out to meet him and to 
escort him, upon stalwart shoulders, to 
the campus where there is grand cele¬ 
bration-bonfire and speeches and songs. 
Hearts are full of joy and gladness 
for the great achievement and expres¬ 
sion must be given in a very spectacu¬ 
lar way. But in the case of Jesus’ 
entry the people were celebrating not 
only His great victory over disease, 
deviltry and death, but also what they 
fully expected Him to accomplish in 
the future—the leading of the Jews 
to national independence and glory. 

778. The King Accepted, Rejected. 

“Behold thy King cometh unto 
thee.” Zech. 9: 9. “Behold thy King 
cometh unto thee,” asking the homage 
of heart and possessions and life. 
Which shall it be—joyous songs of 
acceptance? or the gloomy, set silence 
of rejection? 


779. The Growing King and King¬ 

dom. 

“He sat upon him.” Mark 11:7. 
How the resplendent Roman soldiers 
and the gay public must have laughed. 
How the cavaliers of Charles laughed 
at George Fox and his Quakers. How 
the sporty, fox-hunting preachers 
laughed at John Wesley and his Meth¬ 
odists. How smug London laughed 
at William Booth and his slum “sol¬ 
diers.” The world’s real kings usually 
come on a humble mount. 

780. The Royal Approach. 

Mark 11:7, 8. So now He is 
going up to Jerusalem, the royal city, 
to present Himself as King. And He 
was going in proper royal fashion. 
The ass was the royal beast of His 
people. It was the fitting thing that 
the king should use a young ass on 
which no one had ever yet sat. So 
Jesus approached His royal city in 
royal fashion. This was quite clear 
to the rulers. They recognized in¬ 
stantly that by so riding in He was 
claiming to be the nation’s King. It 
was a royal approach. 


XI. GOOD FRIDAY 

(Day of Christ’s Crucifixion. Sixth Day of Holy Week.) 


781. Story of Love. 

A native priest came to Bishop War¬ 
ren in India to ask what this gospel 
was that he was preaching. For an¬ 
swer the Bishop told him the story 
of Jesus’ prayer, “Father, forgive 
them, for they know not what they 
do.” The priest listened with increas¬ 
ing perturbation, and at the end of the 
story sprang up and cried, “Get out 
of here ! Get out of India! You will 
convert all our people if you talk to 
them in that way. We have in all our 
religions no story of love like that!” 

There is no other such story as that. 
It is the story which if rightly told 


will convert the world, for Christ 
Himself said, “I, if I be lifted up, 
will draw all men unto Me.”— H. 

782. Invisible Wounds. 

There was a picture published re¬ 
cently showing a company of wounded 
soldiers at Lakewood going through 
calesthenic exercises, but the title 
struck a deep note of sympathy. “The 
invisibly wounded.” Their scars in 
battle were hidden, but awfully real. 
The empty sleeve did not dangle at 
their side, nor the frightful furrow of 
shrapnel glare from eyeless sockets— 
their wounds defied the scrutiny of the 



THE WAY OE THE CROSS 


curious. The patients felt the ache 
from racked nerves and deranged 
digestion growing out of barrage fire, 
gas attacks and trench fevers, and the 
doctors knew the stupendous price 
such had paid for liberty and would 
continue to pay for years, but only 
the very thoughtful could doff their 
hats at the sight of these martyrs for 
a race’s emancipation. The “five bleed¬ 
ing wounds of the dear Saviour” were 
very visible yet as one has said, “The 
suffering of Christ’s soul was the soul 
of His sufferings .”—Christian Intel¬ 
ligencer. 

783. Christ Gave Himself. 

During the great war some men 
of the West Yorkshire Regiment were 
marching through the long, narrow 
street of a village near Rheims, when 
a man suddenly dashed out of a house- 
door on the right. Immediately a 
number of rifles cracked in front of 
the troops, and the man fell dead. He 
proved to be a man of the Royal Irish 
Regiment who had been taken prisoner 
the previous day, and was held in the 
house, where the Germans were in 
ambush. Although he knew that the 
slightest movement on his part would 
mean death, as soon as the British 
were near enough he made the rush, 
which, being followed by the firing 
of the rifles, disclosed the enemy’s am¬ 
bush. His body was carried into a 
house until the fighting was over, and 
then the men buried him. One who 
took part in the ceremony said: 
“There wasn’t a dry eye among us 
when we laid him to rest in that little 
village.” 

Jesus gave His life for others, that 
is what Good Friday means. 

784. The Way of the Cross. 

As we travel through Switzerland, 
especially in winter time, we notice as 
we climb over the paths, some of them 
near the precipice, that the path is 
marked by a great cross. As we look 


189 


ahead a little there is another cross. 
Yonder another. Look across the val¬ 
ley, there is the cross. You can find 
your way along the pathless way if 
you just keep your eyes fixed on the 
cross that you see in front. All the 
way in the Christian life the Cross is 
before us. It is there at the begin¬ 
ning, and when we get a little farther 
it is the Cross still, and when we are 
near the goal, it is the Cross still. 
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.” 
Our only hope is in the Cross .—Sunday 
at Home. 

785. “It Is Finished.” 

A faithful Christian neighbor was 
telling over again to a friend the truth 
of Christ’s completed work, and the 
friend always replied, “Yes, but I’ve 
got to do my part.” The latter had 
just delivered a gate that he had made 
to the order of the former. The 
Christian said: “Well, John, I will 
fix up the gate and make it all right. 
It needs some additional work that I 
shall have to do. Leave it. I’ll work 
on it.” But the gate-builder remon¬ 
strated. “I never heard the like! 
You never treated my work like that 
before. I finished the gate. I defy 
any man to prove that it is not fin¬ 
ished.” And then the believing neigh¬ 
bor took up the word and said: “Well, 
John, I was only trying to point out 
to you about the ‘finished work of 
Christ.’ You must see now how He 
feels because you do not believe Him 
that His work for you is ‘Done and 
forever done.’ You can’t add to it. 
It dishonors Him even to think of 
that.” “Oh, I see it!” cried the other. 
“The Lord forgive me. I’ll not dis¬ 
believe any more. I do not dare add a 
bit to what He has done. I am now 
happy.” 

786. A Christian Leper’s Testimony. 

When I heard a Christian leper in 
India say, “I thank God that He laid 
leprosy upon me because of the lepers 



190 


VICTORY OF THE CROSS 


I have been able to lead to Christ,” I 
thought, “How like Christ, who let 
God lay on Him the leprosy of my 
sin .”—George Innes. 

787. Victory of the Cross. 

When the people in Central Africa 
speak of the death of Christ, they 
always say, “The victory of Gol¬ 
gotha.” Before leaving Africa I said 
to one man: “Now, before I go to 
England, just you tell me what that 
means. I cannot understand it. When 
the very God became man and died 
the death of a felon, I cannot see how 
your people see anything but defeat in 
it.” And then that man said some¬ 
thing that made me proud that my 
days had been spent in Africa. First 
of all, he took a little bit of stick and 
held it up and said: “Here is the 
cross.” Then he took another little 
bit and laid it across the first one 
and said, “Just here at the cross when 
Satan did his very, very worst, just 
here, just then God did His very, very 
best. At the Cross the very worst 
and the very best meet .”—Dan Craw - 
ford. 

788. Real Work of the Cross. 

One day a school inspector was vis¬ 
iting a school and he rose to give a 
talk to the boys and girls. He chose 
the subject of “Patriotism.” As he 
proceeded he pointed to the American 
flag that was draped on the wall, and 
asked impressively, “What is that flag 
hanging there for?” A boy replied 
readily, “Please, sir, it is to hide the 
dirt.” So many people wear the badge 
and emblem of Christian discipleship, 
—the banner of the cross,—just to 
cover up some blemish, weakness, or 
fault in their lives. The real work of 
the cross is to blot out, not to cover 
up. 

789. The Korean Placards. 

In Korea great placards are placed 
at crossroads, on which are written 


this request: “If any of the Jesus 
people come this way, let them stop 
and tell us the story.” The hunger 
for the story of salvation is the same 
in civilized America as in heathen 
lands. Every one who knows the story 
by experience is responsible for telling 
it either here or there. 

790. Dealing with the Cause. 

I know a man who in the weekly 
prayer-meeting was always confessing 
the same sins. His prayer seldom var¬ 
ied. One day when he was praying, he 
used this figure of speech: “O Eord, 
since we last gathered together the 
cobwebs have come between us and 
Thee. Clear away the cobwebs that 
we may again see Thy face.” Then 
a brother called out, “O God, kill the 
spider!” You know very well that you 
may sweep cobwebs away, but if you 
leave spiders in the same room you 
will have cobwebs again to-morrow 
morning. The best way to get rid of 
the cobwebs is to deal with the cause— 
to kill the spider. That is exactly 
what Jesus Christ did when He died 
on the Cross. He not only dealt with 
the effect, but he dealt with the very 
cause of sinning.— Rev. B. L. Hamil¬ 
ton. 

791. Where Fire Has Burned. 

The prairie fire is a never-to-be- 
forgotten sight. If the wind is blow¬ 
ing very strongly, the prairie fire will 
travel faster than a horse can gallop. 
Those who have settled on the prairies 
see the devouring flames come, and 
they know they cannot run away from 
them. What do they do? They burn 
a large space in the vicinity of their 
home; in a short time a large piece of 
ground is absolutely cleared and black¬ 
ened. Then they go and stand on the 
ground where the fire has been al¬ 
ready. When the great devouring 
prairie fire comes up it stops there— 
it can go no further—there is nothing 
to burn. There is one place of safety 



LIGHT ON THE CROSS 


191 


for us. It is where the fire has al¬ 
ready been. That is the Cross of 
Calvary, the Cross of the Lord Jesus 
Christ .—Sunday at Home. 

792. Light on the Cross. 

Sam Hadley, of the Water Front 
Mission in New York, once said, in 
telling of the kind of people that the 
mission was trying to help, “We don’t 
want anyone here who is welcome any¬ 
where else.” If the Lord Jesus had 
come to save those of us who were 
so good that we were worth saving 
on that account, how many of us 
would be in fellowship with Him 
to-day? God did not wait until we 
were good, then send His only be¬ 
gotten Son to improve our condition, 
but while we were yet sinners Christ 
died for us. 

There is the glory that shines from 
the cross. Did you ever see Inness’ 
painting of the Crucifixion? You are 
standing at the foot of Calvary look¬ 
ing up a long slope, the rough cliff 
of Golgotha at your right. A few 
persons are gathered near you at the 
foot of the slope, some bowed with 
grief, others evidently talking to¬ 
gether quietly. At the left is a great 
crowd just across the valley; and to 
the right up the deserted slope toward 
the crosses there are dimly seen two 
horsemen on guard at a considerable 
distance apart. They are the only 
figures to be seen on that slope ex¬ 
cept the dim figures on the three 
crosses. Great clouds are sweeping 
up over the scene, but there is a shaft 
of light shining softly on the central 
cross like the touch of a rainbow, 
covering it with a glow of golden light. 
Oh, how we need that light on the 
cross in these very days! And the 
glory of that cross is the love of God 
in Christ for us sinners for whom He 
died. 

“Upon that cross of Jesus, 

Mine eyes at times can see 
The very dying form of One 


Who suffered there for me. 

And from my smitten heart, with tears, 
Two wonders I confess— 

The wonder of His glorious love, 

And my own worthlessness.” 

—> Philip E. Howard. 

793. Win to Christ. 

“Will you go into the prayer-meet¬ 
ing with me?” said a gentleman to a 
stranger. “Yes, I think I will,” was 
the answer. From that time the 
stranger began to go to church, and 
came to see Christ as his Saviour. 
“Do you know,” he afterwards said 
to the gentleman, “that I have been 
seven years in this city? In three 
days the grocer and milkman found 
me out. But you were the first who 
ever said, “Come to the house of the 
Lord.” We who know of Christ and 
His saving grace ought to be using 
our influence every day.— H. 

794. Knew He Died. 

A little English girl in South Amer¬ 
ica wrote this note to her father: 
“Dear Father, you never told me that 
Jesus died for me. But I am sure 
dear Father, you can never have 
known that He did.”— Archibald Mac - 
Intyre. 

795. Unresting and Resting. 

There are certain birds seen at Con¬ 
stantinople which are said to be al¬ 
ways on the wing. No one ever saw 
them rest, but they are forever poised 
in mid-air. The . natives call them 
“lost souls,” seeking rest and finding 
none. How like the men who have 
no gospel to rest upon, but who change 
their creed from week to week, lis¬ 
tening to every voice but the voice of 
God. The crucified Christ invites us 
to come to Him and rest.— H. 

796. The Shadow of the Cross. 

In the city of San Jose, California, 
close by a pretty little park where palm 
trees rustle and a tinkling fountain 
sometimes gently plays, stands Trinity 
Church. My eager steps often lead 



192 


HE SWAPPED WITH ME 


me along the street where the dim 
shadow of the cross upon the church 
tower slowly changes in response to 
the swing over the heavens of the 
glowing sun. I love that shadow and 
what it represents though it be be¬ 
neath my feet. It depicts the cross 
that typifies the divine love of Christ 
down in the haunts of busy men. 

On cloudy or stormy days we do 
not see the outline on the pavement, 
but always above us is the cross itself. 
Just so in the dull and bitter days of 
life we lose sight of the shadow if we 
look for it, but when we cast our eyes 
toward heaven we perceive the reality 
of the great event of 1900 years ago— 
we see the glory and the hope of the 
tree on which Jesus died. — W. C. 
Allen. 

797. Faith in the Crucified Christ. 

Charlotte Elliot came to Csesar Mi¬ 
lan and asked how she could become a 
Christian. The old man replied, “My 
dear, it is very simple. You have but 
simply to come to Jesus.” And she 
said to him, “But I am a very great 
sinner, will He take me just as I am?” 
“Yes, He will take you Just as you are 
and no other way.” And then she 
said, “If He will take me just as I 
am, then I will come,” and she went 
home to her room, sat down at her 
desk and wrote the beautiful words 
of the hymn, 

“Just as I am, without one plea, 

O Lamb of God, I come, I come.” 

This is the way that Charlotte Elliot 
came to Christ, and thousands of oth¬ 
ers since, in the words of her hymn.— 
Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman, D.D. 

798. Forsaken. 

When “Rabbi Duncan” discoursed 
on the crucifixion with his students, 
he would rise from the professor’s 
chair, and walk up and down the plat¬ 
form, saying words like these: “Ay, 
ay, d’ye know what it was—dying on 


the cross, forsaken by His Father? 
d’ye know what it was? What? It 
was damnation—and damnation taken 
lovingly.” 

A missionary was once asked what 
was the greatest sacrifice he had to 
make in going to the foreign field. 
He hung his head thoughtfully, then 
looking up replied, “God forbid that 
I should call anything I have done a 
sacrifice when I see the sacrifice of 
Jesus on the cross.” Christ was for¬ 
saken of the Father, but the mission¬ 
ary in far-off lands has the assurance, 
“Lo, I am with you alway.” 

799. He Swapped with Me. 

A clergyman was speaking to the 
fisherman on the shore at a town in 
the east of England. His subject was 
justification, and he was trying to make 
it plain to the men what Christ’s work 
on the cross really was. At last he 
cried: “Now will one of you tell me, 
in your own words, what the Lord 
Jesus did do there?” An old salt 
looked up, and with tears streaming 
down his weather-beaten face, said, 
“He swapped with me !”—William S. 
Rainsford, D.D. 

800. Killing Their Saviour. 

“For your lives!” cried the Portu¬ 
gese captain of a Spanish slave ship 
to a band of naked negroes, as he 
pointed to an English ship which had 
been in hot chase of him for some 
hours. “Fight for your lives!” he 
cried out, as he gave each man a 
weapon. And the deluded and terrified 
negroes did as they were told, and in 
doing so, they killed and wounded 
their best friends, who had come to 
deliver them. So Jesus came to set 
the captives of sin free; but the 
Pharisees rose against Jesus, and the 
very men he loved and came to free 
they urged on to kill Him.— Rev. B. 
Waugh. 



THE HEART OF CHRIST 


193 


801. That Is for Me. 

The boys were marching down the 
long street between lines of eager 
folks who had gathered to say fare¬ 
well. One young officer had told his 
wife and mother that their farewells 
had better be said before his company 
passed in review down the street, be¬ 
cause, he explained to them, when he 
marched by with his men, although 
he would see just where his loved ones 
were standing, he would only perhaps 
smile at them, and give them a nod 
as he passed, for he must look straight 
ahead, as he expected his men to do, 
on this day when they were starting 
for the front. 

When the troops passed on and on 
through the crowds, many a man or 
woman looking at them was saying, 
“That is for me. They are going in 
my behalf. They are going to do 
what I cannot do, but it is for me 
and others like me.” Well, who with 
any heart would not feel that way? 
Such a sacrifice as that comes home 
to us with a directness that we can¬ 
not deny. 

And yet—and yet—every sacrifice 
that any man has ever made pales into 
a faint suggestion of sacrifice, when 
we lift our eyes to the cross of Jesus. 
We honor a man who lays down his 
life for a cause, and rightly so. What 
shall we say of one who gathered up 
unto himself the bitter sin of the 
world and bore the guilt of it away 
from us as far as the east is from 
the west? After all, it is not so much 
what we say about one who did that, 
as what we say to Him right now. 
Do you keenly recognize to-day that 
Jesus was on the cross for you? Are 
you just a passerby in the throng with 
no heart for what He did for you?— 
Philip Howard. 

802. The Flowing Tide. 

A story is told of a woman who 
came to a minister, carrying in her 
hands a mass of wet sand. “Do you 

13 


see what this is, sir?” “Yes, it is 
wet sand.” “But do you know what it 
means?” “No, I cannot say that I 
do. What does it mean?” “That is 
I,” she answered, in great distress, 
“and the multitude of my sins, which 
cannot be numbered.” The minister 
spoke calmly to her, and inquired 
where she had got the sand. “Down 
on the beach.” “Go back there,” he 
said, “and take a spade with you. 
Heap up a big mound of sand; pile it 
as high as you can. Then stand back 
on the shore and watch what happens 
to it when the tide comes in.” Of 
course when the tide flowed in it 
completely swept away the pile of 
sand. And so when God forgives sin, 
He takes it away as completely as the 
incoming tide carries away the heaped- 
up sand. 

“The blood of Jesus Christ, His 
Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” 

803. The Heart of Christ. 

In one of the battles of Scotland, 
Douglas, the leader of the Scottish 
freemen, saw that his clansmen were 
wavering. He had carried to the bat¬ 
tlefield in a sacred urn, the heart of 
Robert Bruce, the founder of the 
Scottish nation. Suddenly he sent for 
this precious relic and standing in 
front of his troops, he cried, “Soldiers, 
this is the heart of Bruce. I follow 
it, and whosover loves it, let him fol¬ 
low me.” Then he flung it as far as 
his giant strength was able, right into 
the thick of the enemy, and plunged 
after it. Instantly the clansmen ral¬ 
lied and followed their leader to rescue 
the heart of Bruce from the hands of 
the enemy, and needless to say, they 
won the day. So Jesus Christ, our 
Glorious Reader, is going before us. 
His heart of love and self-sacrifice 
is far in advance of our slow and timid 
steps. He is calling to us. “Who 
loves Me, let him follow Me.” He 
has gone before us into the place of 
service, into the slums of sin, into the 



194 


ACROSS THE CHASM 


lands of darkness. What though oth¬ 
ers may choose to live for pleasure, 
ease, or earthly ambition, let us hear 
Him calling. “What is that to thee? 
Follow thou me.” 

804. Took the Sting. 

A little child was in the garden with 
his mother, when a bee stung his 
mother on the palm of her hand. 
The child huddled close to the mother 
and cried, for fear the bee would 
sting him too. “Look,” said the mother, 
“the sting of the bee is in the palm of 
my hand. He cannot sting you also.” 
And so Jesus has suffered the sting of 
death for us. 

805. And Him Crucified. 

An Indian chief told this story: 
There came a preacher who wished to 
show us that there is a God. We 
answered, Do you think we don’t know 
that? Go back where you came from.” 
Another came and said, “You must 
not steal, you must not get drunk, you 
must not lie.” We answered, “You 
fool! Do you think we don’t know 
that? Teach that first to the people 
you belong to.” After that came 
Christian Henry Rauch to my hut and 
said, “The Lord of heaven bids me 
say he will make you blessed and de¬ 
liver you from your misery; for this 
purpose He became man and shed His 
blood.” As soon as he had done 
speaking, he lay down quietly by my 
bow and tomahawk and slept as 
sweetly as a child. Ah! I thought, 
what a man is that 1 I could strike 
him dead, but he has not a fear. I 
could not forget his words. I dreamed 
in my sleep of the blood of Christ 
shed for me. Thus through grace the 
awakening among us began. There¬ 
fore, I say, preach Christ, our Saviour 
and His birth in Bethlehem and His 
death on Calvary, and His redeeming 
grace, if you would find an entrance 
among the heathen .—Herald and 
Presbyter. 


806. The Cruel Scourging. 

Dr. Alexander Whyte tells the story 
of a man who dreamed that he saw 
Jesus tied to a whipping-post with a 
soldier scourging Him. He saw the 
whip in the soldier’s hand,—and when 
the dreamer rushed forward intending 
to stop him, the soldier turned around 
and the dreamer recognized—himself 1 

We often think how cruel those 
men must have been who scourged and 
crucified Jesus, but whenever we do 
wrong, we, too, cause the heart of 
Jesus to bleed with sorrow and pain. 

807. But the Doctor! 

A great surgeon operated on a poor 
boy, whose foot was twisted out of 
shape. The operation was successful, 
and a friend came to take the little 
invalid home. He said to the boy, 
“What a beautiful hospital you have 
been in!” “Yes,” said the boy, “but 
I like the doctor best.” When he 
brought the boy home his mother was 
charmed to see her son again. She 
fell on her knees and looked at once 
at his foot. “Why, it’s just like 
any other boy’s foot now,” she ex¬ 
claimed with delight. All the time the 
lad was saying to her, “Mother, you 
ought to know the doctor who made 
me walk.” There is not one of us 
for whom Jesus has not done a thou¬ 
sand times more than the surgeon did 
for that boy. Yet we have rarely 
spoken of Jesus and insisted on making 
Him known to others. 

808. Across the Chasm. 

Over a deep gorge in Arizona lies 
a great tree, forming a natural bridge. 
Ages ago it fell in its prime, ap¬ 
parently a failure. Yet, gradually 
changed, it is now a free of solid 
agate. It has become of noble use 
and great value, being used by count¬ 
less human feet to cross the'chasm. 

Christ Himself seemed a failure, 
yet He has become the bridge between 
earth and heaven on which His re- 



NOT DISFIGURED, DECORATED 


195 


deemed may pass over. Once re¬ 
jected—now honored.— J. R. Miller, 
D.D. 

809. Not Disfigured, Decorated. 

Mrs. Burton French, society leader 
and war worker, told in Paris a story 
about a soldier. 

“All disfigured soldiers,” she said, 
“should have the spirit of a lad I saw 
in a hospital in Chateau-Thierry. His 
face was a mass of bandages, and I 
said to him gently, 

“You poor, poor boy.” 

“Don’t pity me, ma’am,” replied the 
soldier. “Pity my buddies over there 
who got hit where it ain’t going to 
show.” 

“Then,” I said, “you don’t mind 
being disfigured?” 

“Disfigured,” scoffed the soldier, “I 
ain’t disfigured. I’m decorated.” 

This is the answer to those who 
wince at the “bloody” cross, and shy 
at singing about “the print of the 
nails in His hand” and the wound 
of the thorns on His brow; to whom 
the cross in its bald literalism smacks 
of the shambles. The blood, the 
wounds, the agony on the face of 
Jesus are not disfiguring; they are 
the royal decorations which the King 
of heaven bestows on the Prince of 
Glory after He has met the enemy and 
won the fight.— Rev. John F. Cowan, 
D.D. 

810. A Substitute. 

The story of the Napoleonic cam¬ 
paigns is familiar to all, how in the 
early wars a man was drafted in 
France, and being unable to go to the 
field himself hired a substitute and 
paid a good price for him, who went 
to the war, and fell on one of the 
battlefields. In a subsequent draft the 
same man was drafted again. He 
went to the recruiting office and pro¬ 
duced his papers, proving he had hired 
and paid for a substitute, who had 
died on the field; and entry was ac¬ 


cordingly made against his name: 
“Died in the person of his substitute 
on the battlefield of Rivoli!”— A. T. 
Pierson, D.D. 

811. Jesus Crucified. 

Three men died: one for sin, one 
to sin, and one in sin. These three 
prepositions cover the whole human 
race. “Do not die in sin. Die to it, 
by receiving as your Saviour Him 
who died for it in your stead.”— 
George Guille. 

812. Love on the Cross. 

“Love” is stamped in flaming and 
sacrificial letters upon the cross of 
Christ. It is the largest, loftiest, 
divinest expression of love that the 
cross reveals. That love is so com¬ 
pelling that it brings a loving re¬ 
sponse from those who realize its 
glorious and eternal worth. An old 
countryman was wandering around a 
picture gallery, when in one of the 
rooms he came upon a picture of the 
Christ. For some minutes he stood 
in silence, gazing raptly at it; and 
then, unmindful of his surroundings, 
he exclaimed aloud: “Bless Him! I 
love Him!” Standing near was a man 
who overheard him; and grasping his 
hand, he said, “Brother, so do I!” A 
third and a fourth followed, and soon 
there was gathered a little company 
before the picture, complete strangers 
to one another, but drawn sym¬ 
pathetically to one another by out¬ 
flowing love to Jesus Christ.— H. 

813. Comforted in the Cross. 

Mr. E. J. Cooper, whose wife was 
a martyr of the Boxer persecution, in 
a letter to his mother, writes, “You 
will have learned by cable that dear 
Maggie has fallen asleep in Jesus. I 
may as well tell you the worst first. 
She died at Ying-shan, about 100 miles 
from Hankow, on August 6, after a 
month’s pain and suffering for Christ. 



196 


THE THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS 


“Billow after billow has gone over 
me. Home gone, not one memento 
of dear Maggie even, penniless, wife 
and child gone to glory, Edith lying 
sick with diarrhoea, and your son 
weak and exhausted to a degree, 
though otherwise well. I have been 
at the point of death more than once 
on the road. In one village, after a 
heavy stoning with brick-bats, they put 
ropes under me and dragged me along 
the ground, that I might not die in the 
village itself. And now that you know 
the worst, mother, I want to tell you 
that the cross of Christ, that exceeding 
glory of the Father’s love, has brought 
continual comfort to my heart, so that 
not one murmur has broken the peace 
within.”— Rev. A. E. Glover. 

814. On Sand or Rock. 

A Welsh lady, when she lay dying, 
was visited by her minister. He said 
to her, “Sister, are you sinking?” She 
answered him not a word, but looked 
at him with incredulous eyes. He re¬ 
peated the question, “Sister, are you 
sinking?” She looked at him again as 
if she could not believe he would ask 
such a question. At last, rising a little 
in her bed, she said, “Sinking! Sink¬ 
ing ! Did you ever know a sinner 
sink through a rock? If I had been 
standing on the sand, I might sink; 
but, thank God, I am on the Rock of 
Ages, and there is no sinking there.” 
—Charles Spurgeon. 

815. Length and Depth of God’s 

Love. 

“How much do you love me?” was 
the playful question of a mother to 
her little girl. The child was puzzled 
for a moment how to answer. Then 
as she looked out of the window, at 
the bright stars on a moonless night, 
she beautifully said, “All the way from 
here to the stars and back again.” 
Christ, it has been said, “loved us all 
the way from heaven to the cross and 
back again.” 


An illustration by Dr. Alexander 
McLaren presents this thought point¬ 
edly. “When a coal-pit gets blocked 
up by some explosion,” he says, “no 
brave rescuing party will descend to 
the lowest depths of the poisonous 
darkness until some ventilation has 
been restored. But this loving Christ 
goes down, down, down into the thick¬ 
est, most pestilential atmosphere, reek¬ 
ing with sin and corruption, and 
stretches out a rescuing hand to the 
most abject and undermost of all the 
victims. How deep is the love of 
Christ! The deep mines of sin and of 
alienation are all undermined and coun¬ 
termined by His love. Sin in an abyss, 
a mystery, how deep only they who 
have fought against it know; but 

“ ‘O Love! thou bottomless abyss. 

My sins are swallowed up in thee.* ” 

816. The Theology of the Cross. 

They were talking and writing about 
Billy Sunday in a certain section of 
this country where the ministers and 
churches have gotten away from the 
heart truths of the Gospel. “Billy 
Sunday is fine,” they said enthusias¬ 
tically. “He is doing a great work; 
the facts speak for themselves. If 
he would only leave out his theology 
there would be little to criticise; 
apart from that his work is extraor¬ 
dinary and admirable.” 

What would you think of the peo¬ 
ple who examined the trolley system of 
a city, rode in the cars, studied the 
time-table and routes, and then made 
this report: “The trolley system is 
doing an admirable work; it is meet¬ 
ing the needs of the city; if you will 
simply leave out the power-house 
there will be little to be desired.” 

The ministers and laymen who say 
that Billy Sunday’s work is all right 
except for his theology do not realize 
that they are speaking as foolishly as 
those who commend the trolley system 
provided the power-house were left 
out. Without his theology Billy Sun- 




HOW LONG SINCE JESUS DIED? 


197 


day’s preaching and results would col¬ 
lapse in powerlessness. His theology 
is the heart of it. For his theology 
is the cross of Christ.— C. G. Trum¬ 
bull. 

817. How Long Since Jesus Died? 

A missionary in India tells of preach¬ 
ing in a village where the Gospel 
story was unknown. The people ea¬ 
gerly listened. He was asked to re¬ 
peat the story again and again. One 
heathen said: It is so new to us, and 
we are slow to understand.” After 
the missionaries had gone on their way, 
they were overtaken by a messenger 
asking how long it had been since 
Jesus died,—one, or two years? “Do 
you wonder,” said the missionary, “that 
I was ashamed to tell them how many 
centuries had passed since God had 
manifested His love to the world?” 
His shame ought to be ours also. 
“How shall they hear without a 
preacher ?” 

818. How to Be Saved. 

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and thou shalt be saved.” 

A blessed work of grace has been 
going on in various parts of Scotland. 
Many had accepted God’s “great sal¬ 
vation” and rejoiced in their newly- 
found Saviour. Among these was 
a Mr. Murray, an office-holder in one 
of the churches and for fifty years a 
professor of religion, without, how¬ 
ever, the “one thing needful.” One 
day as Mr. Murray was reading a 
Gospel paper he came across the fol¬ 
lowing statement: “The Gospel brings 
us not a work to do, but a word to 
believe about a work done.” “I see 
it all,” said he to his wife. “I have 
been working away at the keyhole and 
the door has been open all the time. 
My fifty years’ profession goes for 
nothing, and I get salvation through 
simply accepting Christ.” — From 
“Love WinsT 


819. Better than Sermonizing. 

A little boy confided his experience 
to his mother after a church service. 
“Why, mother, when the minister was 
telling about Calvary, I could just see 
Jesus going up there, and the cross, 
and the people: and just when I was 
most interested, the minister stopped, 
—and went on with the sermon.” May 
it not be true that some of us as 
preachers or teachers rest too lightly 
upon the unadorned Gospel narratives, 
in our eagerness to find devices that 
will create interest in the story? It 
may be that some to whom we are 
seeking to carry the Gospel lose inter¬ 
est when we “go on with the sermon.” 

820. Jesus Our Redeemer. 

The story was told of a ladder run 
up against the Woolworth Building in 
New York. It reached to the fourth 
floor—the fire was in the forty-third! 
It was only thirty-nine stories short! 
There is no other way of salvation 
from hell hereafter and from sin now 
than through the blood atonement of 
Jesus Christ. Imitation of the sin¬ 
less life of the Son of God even can¬ 
not save. The Bishop of Durham used 
to say, “A Christ not quite God is a 
bridge broken at the farther end.” 

821. Crown of Thorns. 

Among the wonder-plants of mod¬ 
ern floriculture is one called “The 
Crown of Thorns.” This plant itself 
bears the form which gives it its name, 
and is studded thickly with thorns. 
The flower is both delicate and beau¬ 
tiful. But the most significant fea¬ 
ture of this unusual plant is that it 
blooms continuously. And this is a 
parable too. The only crown which 
ever blooms is a crown of thorns. 
Sacrifice is the most fructifying thing 
in the world. There are few joys like 
the joy of a great renunciation. One 
does not need to trust the future to 
prove the truth of Jesus’ word about 
finding one’s life by losing it. He who 



198 


IMPULSE FROM THE CROSS 


lavishly gives any part of his life to 
his child, his friend, his age discov¬ 
ers that he has “found” by “losing.” 
The joy of Christ is perfectly plain. 
It is the joy of giving up; a joy that 
none can take from us because none 
can ever deny us the ability to give. 
The crown of thorns always hurts; 
but, worn heroically, it always blos¬ 
soms. That is true for us. And 
Christ bore His crown of thorns for 
us. 

822. The Central Cross. 

At the palace of Justice at Rome 
they take you sometimes into a cham¬ 
ber with strangely painted frescoes on 
the ceiling and around the walls and 
upon the floor in all kinds of grotesque 
forms. You cannot reduce them to 
harmony, you cannot make out the 
perspective; it is a bewildering maze 
of confusion. But there is one spot 
upon the floor of that room, and only 
one, standing upon which, every line 
falls into harmony; the perspective is 
perfect, the picture flashes out upon 
you, instinct with meaning in every 
line and panel. You see at that point, 
and that only, the design of the artist 
who painted it. 

I believe this world in just as be¬ 
wildering a maze looked at at every 
point except one. I look back upon 
the records of history; I endeavor to 
gaze into the future of this world’s 
career; wherever I turn I am opposed 
by the mysteries that hem me in and 
crush me down, until I take my stand 
at the foot of the Cross. Then dark¬ 
ness and discord become light and har¬ 
mony, the mystery is solved; the 
night that shuts me in becomes radiant 
with the Divine light and glory. At 
the foot of the Cross, art, science, lit¬ 
erature, history become at once to me 
a Divine, a glorious, and a blessed 
thing. And so I claim for my Lord 
His rightful dominion over all the 
works of His hands. We will gather 
the beauties of art, all the treasures of 


music, all that is brightest and best in 
this world, and we will lay them down 
at His feet; for, “Worthy is the 
Lamb that was slain to receive might, 
and majesty, and riches, and power, 
and honor, and glory.” His is the 
sceptre, His is the right, His this uni¬ 
versal world. 

823. Impulse From the Cross. 

At the Inter-Seminary Missionary 
Alliance held in Oberlin, Ohio, we had 
a solemn consecration service on Sun¬ 
day morning. A theological student 
rose and read these lines, “ ‘Jesus, I 
my cross have taken!’ No,” he said, 
“I never took any cross for Christ. 
‘All to leave and follow Thee!’ I 
never left anything for Christ. ‘Na¬ 
ked, poor, despised, forsaken./ Yes, 
my Saviour was that, but I am not.” 

Is the same true of us? Is this the 
secret of the world’s unevangelization? 

824. Devotion to the Cross. 

A brave warrior of the olden days 
being delayed, prayed to the gods that 
the battle might not be ended before 
his arrival. Is it because we are not 
as brave as we ought to be that we 
shrink from the heat and strife of bat¬ 
tle? Is it because we do not have im¬ 
plicit trust in our Father that we 
shiver and sway so when the wild 
billows surge about us ? It must be so, 
and yet the Lord pities our weaknesses 
and begs us to come unto Him, and 
receive rest and comfort. No matter 
how stormy may be life’s sea, there 
upon the rugged shore, we may find 
the Rock of shelter, hidden in its cleft 
we may always find safety .—Brnest 
Gilmore. 

825. Droop Sacred Head! 

Droop, sacred head. 

Upon that breast divine. 

The strife is o’er, 

The victory is thine. 

Hush, sounds of earth. 

Sink, sink, thou mournful sun; 

On Calvary’s cross, 

Lo, mercy’s work is done. 




A DIVINE NECESSITY 


199 


Gaze, mortal, gaze, 

The Saviour hangs for Thee, 

Silent in death, 

Upon the accursed tree. 

Love, holiest love, 

Shall earth and heaven atone, 

In fadeless day, 

From Christ’s eternal throne! 

—Shapcott Wesley. 

826. A Divine Necessity. 

The seed must die if a harvest is 
to spring from it. Sacrifice is the law 
of life everywhere. We only “quicken” 
as we “die.” Christ saved others, 
Himself He could not save. Without 
the shedding of blood there could be 
no remission of sin. The cross was a 
divine necessity. 

827. Under the Cross. 

It is recorded that while Christ was 
agonizing on the cross, another trag¬ 
edy was going on beneath it. The 
rabbis “derided Him”; the soldiers 
“cast lots for His raiment”; and the 
people “stood beholding.” 

Out of heaven God was calling, 
“Come!” and the emphasis put on the 
invitation, then and there, was as if 
God had taken the very heart out of 
His bosom and given it to agony and 
death for them. 

Yet cool, indifferent, or hostile, all 
alike were answering “I will not.” 

And this is the tragedy which is 
ever going on; men and women, with 
heedless or deliberate hands, closing 
against themselves the only door that 
ever opened into life. 

“O foolish Galatians, who bewitched 
you, that ye should not obey the truth, 
before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath 
been evidently set forth, crucified 
among you?”— Rev. D. J. B. 

828. Christ Unrecognized. 

It is said that one of the most mag¬ 
nificent diamonds in Europe, which 
to-day blazes in a king’s crown, once 
lay for months on a stall in a piazza 
at Rome labelled, “Rock-crystal, price, 
one franc.” How often is Christ un¬ 
recognized, undervalued by men?— H. 


829. God So Loved. 

“I have nothing to give you to make 
your heart happy,” said Popebah, as I 
was leaving for vacation, “but I send 
my best love to your mother, because 
she did not keep you at home.” Have 
you thanked God because He did not 
keep His Son “at home”? 

So writes Isabel Crawford in “Ki¬ 
owa.” 

830. “Did He Get In?” 

In Holman Hunt’s picture called 
“The Light of the World” the Sav¬ 
iour is represented as standing before 
a closed door, His locks wet with 
dews of night. He has a lantern in 
His hand. He is clothed in the garb 
of a king; but His crown is a crown 
of thorns. Pie knocks and waits in 
vain. 

On the back of the original canvas 
the artist wrote, “Lord, pass me not 
by.” But there is no danger of that. 
The Lord passes no one by. The 
danger is that the door may be for¬ 
ever closed against Him. 

A child who saw the picture of “The 
Light of the World” looked at it long 
and earnestly and then, turning to her 
father asked with a pathetic tremor in 
her voice, “Did He get in, father; 
did he get in?” 

Knocking, knocking; what, still there? 

Waiting, waiting, wondrous fair! 

Yes, the pierced hand still knocketh, 

And beneath the crowned hair 

Beam the patient eyes so tender 

Of thy Saviour waiting there. 

Shall He come in? Never unless 
we open unto Him. It is for us to 
say whether He shall enter and sup 
with us.— D. J. Burrell. 

831. In the Fire for Me. 

I sometimes tell about a little boy 
who was playing with his mother’s 
finger, on which she had a beautiful 
ring. As he was twisting it around, 
he noticed an ugly scar on the back 
of her hand. “Oh, mother,” said he, 
“what an ugly hand that isl” Her 



200 


THE HEART OE CHRIST 


eyes filled with tears. “Charlie, would 
you like to have me tell you about 
that hand?” “Yes, mother,” said he. 
“Well, when you were a little boy, you 
were romping about the room one day, 
and you struck your toe against the 
fender and fell into the fire. I dropped 
my work and pulled you out of the 
fire with that hand. It was the hot 
bars and coals that made that scar 
upon it.” “Oh, mother, said he, “that 
is the loveliest hand in the world, be¬ 
cause it is the hand that was in the 
fire for me.” And the loveliest ob¬ 
ject to-night for a guilty sinner is the 
bleeding Saviour, the dying Son of 
God, who passed through fires for us. 
—Record of Christian Work. 

832. Has Gone Before. 

Douglas threw the heart of Bruce 
among the enemy, and cried, “Bead 
on, brave heart; I follow thee.” That 
is the right spirit. 

Some travellers in the far West in 
earlier days came across a narrow 
trail, and Indian trail, that looked as 
if but one man had passed that way. 
The experts knew better. They knew 
that the chief had passed that way 
first, and that all his followers had 
carefully set their feet exactly in his 
tracks, till the path was worn as if 
by one man. Thus was the fact silently 
published that the loyal tribesmen had 
gone after their leader step by step. 

So has our Great Chief gone on be¬ 
fore us, “leaving us an example that 
we should follow His steps.” How 
does the path look ? Does it seem 
as if but one had passed that way? 
Is there here and there a swerving 
track which shows a departure instead 
of a steadfast and perfect following? 
These are tokens of our imperfect 
steps. Yet, it is something, after all, 
if the trend and direction is always the 
same, and if, in some degree at least, 
we keep to that single track, and do 
not strike out on a path at right 
angles with it, making a cross that 


shall bring pain and lead us out of 
the way. There can not be leadership 
without loyalty in following. How is 
it with us whose Chief has gone be¬ 
fore? 

833. The Heart of Christ. 

I read the other day that the heart 
of Kosciusko, which is buried in a 
bronze urn in Switzerland, is about to 
be taken back to his native Poland for 
whose liberties he fought so faith¬ 
fully in 1791 and 1794. The act is 
natural and beautiful. The dreams 
that Kosciusko dreamed more than a 
century ago are now coming true, and 
the removal of the heart to Poland 
will encourage all patriots to believe 
that justice and truth must triumph 
in the end. 

But I want to apply the thought to 
a greater than Kosciusko. The heart 
of Christ is with His people, has never 
left them for a moment through all 
the reeking centuries. “I am with 
you,” he said, and He has made good 
His word. The heart of Christ is in 
the midst of His people’s struggles— 
with Jews murdered in cold blood; 
with the Armenians martyred by 
Turkish hatred; with every sufferer, 
every worker, every servant. And 
His heart is not dead and dumb, but 
alive and full of tender speech. It 
keeps alive our faith. It comforts us 
in our sorrows. It brings us life in 
the midst of death. It is the heart of 
His great forgiving, redeeming—His 
great unfailing love.— H. 

834. “Father, Forgive Them.” 

I have read of a soldier who was 
about to be brought before his com¬ 
manding officer for some offense. He 
was an old offender, had often been 
punished. “Here he is again,” said 
the officer, as his name was mentioned, 
“everything has been tried on him.” 
Just then a subordinate officer stepped 
forward, and apologizing for the lib¬ 
erty, said, “There is one thing that 



THE SAVING STREAM 


201 


has never been done with him yet, 
sir.” “What is that?” said the of¬ 
ficer. “Well, sir,” said the other, “he 
has never been forgiven,” “Forgiven 1 ” 
said the colonel, surprised at the sug¬ 
gestion. He thought a moment and 
then ordered the culprit to be brought 
in, and asked him what he had to say 
to the charge. “Nothing, sir,” was the 
reply, “only I am sorry for what I 
have done.” Turning a kind and piti¬ 
ful look on the man, who expected 
nothing else than his punishment would 
be increased with the repetition of the 
offense, the colonel addressed him, 
saying, “Well, we have tried every¬ 
thing with you, and now we have 
resolved—to forgive you.” 

The soldier was struck dumb with 
amazement. Tears started to his eyes 
as thanking the officers he retired— 
to be the old refractory, incorrigible 
man? No, from that day forward he 
was a new man. It is said that from 
that day on a better conducted man 
never wore the uniform. 

Christ’s death and provision for par¬ 
don pledges us to love and loyalty and 
service.— 77 . 

835. Message of the Cross. 

In a sermon in Mansfield Chapel, 
Oxford, Dr. Selbie told this daring 
story: “There was a young French¬ 
man who loved a courtesan. This 
woman hated her lover’s mother, and 
when in his passion he offered her any 
gift in return for her love, she an¬ 
swered, ‘Bring me then your mother’s 
bleeding heart.’ And he, in his mad¬ 
ness, killed his mother, and plucking 
out her heart, hurried by night through 
the streets, carrying it to the cruel 
woman to whom he had given his 
soul. But as he went he stumbled, and 
fell, and from the bleeding heart came 
an anxious voice, ‘My son, are you 
hurt?’ Not even murder could kill 
that mother’s love; it lived on in the 


torn heart. And this is the message 
of the cross. 

836. Saving Love of Christ. 

It is said that when Edward I. of 
England was wounded with a poisoned 
arrow, his wife Eleanor put her mouth 
to the wound, and thus risked her own 
life to extract the poison. But the 
love of Christ was deeper than this 
when He knew that He was risking 
all that He had, and yet did not fear 
to invest it all in order that He might 
bring us unto God. 

837. Atonement, Difficulty of De¬ 

fining. 

I can only just draw out the Scrip¬ 
ture statements and leave them. As 
to the Atonement, I am like the man 
who was required to explain what God 
is —“7 know if I am not asked.” — T. 
Binney. 

838. The Saving Stream. 

“The blood of Jesus Christ, His 
Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 
John 1:7. In the old fighting days 
between England, and Scotland the 
English soldiers were hunting the fugi¬ 
tive Robert Bruce, and they hit upon 
a clever scheme to discover him. They 
put on his track his own bloodhounds, 
and Bruce soon heard their deep bay¬ 
ing. Then his solitary attendant heard 
the sound, and said : “We are lost. The 
English have unleashed the hounds, 
and they are on our trail.” “No,” 
answered Bruce, “It is all right. They 
will not catch us yet. There is a 
stream yonder. We will plunge into 
it, and the dogs will lose our scent.” 
So when the hounds came to the 
water they lost the trail, and the at¬ 
tempt to discover Bruce failed. And 
so with our sins. Steadily they pur¬ 
sue us, and the only way to free our¬ 
selves is to plunge into the cleansing 
fountain of Christ’s blood, where we 
shall be made whiter than snow. The 
blood of Christ is a saving stream. 



20 2 


repaid life with life 


839. The Saving Lamb. 

On a little church in Germany stands 
a stone lamb which has an interesting 
history. When some workmen were 
engaged on the roof of the building, 
one of them fell to the ground. His 
companions hastened down expecting 
to find him killed. They were 
amazed, however, to see him unhurt. 
A lamb had been grazing just where 
he struck the ground, and falling upon 
it, the little creature was crushed to 
death, while the man himself escaped 
injury. He was so grateful for this 
wonderful deliverance, that he had an 
image of the lamb carved in stone 
and placed on the building as a me¬ 
morial. The lamb saved his life by 
dying in his place. 

840. Repaid Life With Life. 

Chapman D. Young, a rich farmer 
of Union, la., dug Dr. E. S. Kaufman 
out from beneath the physician’s over¬ 
turned auto, saving him from suf¬ 
focation in eighteen inches of mud 
and water. 

“I wish I could repay you, but I 
never will be able to,” said Dr. Kauf¬ 
man to the man who had saved his 
life, 

His chance to repay came and he 
has repaid life with life. 

Young was suddenly stricken with 
intestinal trouble that required an 
immediate operation of a dangerous 
and difficult sort. Dr. Kaufman was 
notified and raced his automobile at 
terrific speed to the farmer’s home 
and back to a local hospital, where 
Young was immediately placed upon 
an operating table. Dr. Kaufman him¬ 
self performed the operation, which 
was successful. 

“There will be no charge; I’ve 
merely paid my debt,” said the doctor. 

He repaid life with life. 

841. Bought with Blood. 

A boy of a mechanical turn of mind 
made himself a toy motor-boat to sail 


upon a stream of water that flowed 
near his home. On taking it to the 
stream he found it was defective, and 
it sailed away from him far beyond 
his reach. After many efforts to re¬ 
cover it he was at last compelled to 
return home without it. To him it was 
lost. Not long after he was sur¬ 
prised to see in a store of his town 
a boat with a card attached: “This 
motor-boat for sale. Price, five shill¬ 
ings.” It was his! He made his loss 
known to the then owner but it was 
futile. He could have it for the price 
of five shillings. He went home and 
told his father of his predicament. 
The father heard the story and said: 
“Here’s the money; go and buy back 
your own boat.” And when he at last 
received it from the vendor he hugged 
it to himself and said: “You are 
twice mine; I made you, and I bought 
you.” So we are Christ’s by twofold 
claim; He made us and He redeemed 
us. He made us His the second time 
by a great price. 

This is God’s appeal to us: “You 
are twice mine. I made you and I 
bought you.”— H. 

842. Present Christ as Saviour. 

Said Bishop W. F. McDowell be¬ 
fore the first national convention of 
Methodist men: “I would not cross 
the street to give India a new the¬ 
ology; India has more theology than 
it can understand. I would not cross 
the street to give China a new code 
of ethics; China has a vastly better 
code than ethical life. I would not 
cross the street to give Japan a new 
religious literature, for Japan has a 
better religious literature than reli¬ 
gious life. But I would go around the 
world again, and yet again, if it 
pleased God, to tell India and China 
and Africa and the rest of the world— 

“ ‘There is a fountain filled with blood, 
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins. 

And sinners plunged beneath that flood 
hose all their guilty stains.’ ” 



CONQUERED TO SAVE 


203 


843. Conquering to Save. 

There is a story of a young knight, 
brave, manly, strong, who was vic¬ 
torious over every foe. In every com¬ 
bat he was successful, until he grew 
proud and self-confident. One day he 
went forth and stood before the gate 
of a great castle, and uttered his chal¬ 
lenge. There came out a knight in 
armor, and after a brief combat de¬ 
feated him. When the victor re¬ 
moved the armor he had worn, lo! 
it was a woman, clad in spotless white. 
From henceforth she became the guide 
of the young man’s life, leading him 
to nobleness and glory. 

The story is an allegory. The white 
castle is the castle of truth. The white 
garment is the symbol of purity. Truth 
and purity are the qualities that give 
strength and victory and blessing. We 
never can make anything truly worthy 
and noble of our life until we meet 
Christ and are defeated by Him, 
brought to acknowledge Him as our 
King and Master. He does not then 
show Himself, however, as our enemy, 
but as our friend. Beneath the con¬ 
queror’s armor we find the heart of 
love. He subdues us that He may 
save us. When we yield to Him He 
becomes the guide of our life, leading 
us on to nobleness and glory.—■/. R, 
Miller, D.D. 


844. Blood of Christ. 

Among the folk-lore tales of the 
American Indians, Mr. George A. 
Dorsey tells the following, found cur¬ 
rent among the Wichatas: ‘When 
darkness came, Afterbirth-Boy again 
looked around to see where his father 
had gone. He finally found his trail, 
and he followed it with his eye until 
he found the place where his father 
had stopped. He called his brother 
and told him to bring his arrows and 
to shoot up right straight overhead. 
The boy brought his arrows and shot 
one up into the sky. Then he waited 
for a while, and finally saw a drop of 
blood come down. It was the blood 
of their father. When the boys did 
not return, he gave up all hope of 
ever seeing them again, and so he 
went up into the sky and became a 
star. They knew that this blood be¬ 
longed to their father, and in this way 
they found out where he had gone. 
They at once shot up two arrows and 
then caught hold of them and went 
up in the sky with the arrows. Now 
the two brothers stand by their father 
in the sky.” 

It is by the sign of the blood that 
flowed on Calvary that many souls 
have trusted to follow their great 
Forerunner to the land beyond the 
sky. The arrows we send thither are 
named Faith and Hope. 


XII. COMMUNION SUNDAY 


845. “I Accept.” 

Coming to the Communion is an 
acceptance of Christ. A pastor was 
recently telling his congregation how 
French women have been visiting the 
new-made soldier cemeteries near their 
villages, and how each one has been 
chalking over her signature on the 
rude wooden crosses the words, “I 
accept.” It meant that these good 
women would be responsible for keep¬ 


ing green these graves of boys whose 
loved ones, who would otherwise per¬ 
form this ministry, were far away in 
distant lands. The incident beauti¬ 
fully suggests to us, this pastor said, 
that the finished work of redemption 
is represented by a cross that stood 
near an open tomb, and upon which 
we must by faith inscribe those words 
of eternal import, “I accept.” 




204 


THE CRIMSON THREAD 


846. A Reenlistment. 

A beautiful gipsy girl was em¬ 
ployed by a German artist to sit for 
one of his studies. She noticed in his 
studio an unfinished picture of the 
crucifixion, and asked who “that wick¬ 
ed man” was, and what His crime was 
to be punished so. The artist ex¬ 
plained the picture, and in answer to 
her many questions, gave her a rather 
grudging account of the gospel story. 
He had no sympathy with Christian 
themes, and his cold manner roused 
her wonder. “Why,” she said, “I 
should think you would love Him if 
He died for you!” 

In this sacrament of the Lord’s Sup¬ 
per let us renew our love and devo¬ 
tion to Christ. 

847. Preparation of Heart. 

When the great painter, Turner, was 
visited by two friends who had come 
to see his pictures, he kept these 
friends in a dark room for a short 
time before he told the servant to 
show them upstairs to his studio. He 
then apologized for the apparent dis¬ 
courtesy by telling them that they 
had to have their eyes emptied of the 
common glare before they could really 
see the colors of his pictures. 

Our hearts and minds must be 
emptied of the world before we can 
see God—hence the place to find Him 
is not in the turmoil of the workaday 
life, but in solitude. It is well for us 
to prepare our hearts for the Com¬ 
munion service.— H. 

848. The Crimson Thread. 

Very many lives have been lost in 
the Alps and in other mountain ranges 
by the breaking of defective ropes. 
The Alpine Club took up the subject 
of insecure ropes, and has effected 
quite a reform in the quality of the 
material out of which they are com¬ 
posed and the manner in which they 
are made. The ropes that pass the 


inspection of the Alpine Club, and 
are guaranteed to hold, are marked 
by a crimson thread wrought into 
them. In climbing spiritual altitudes, 
the rope that is safe is the one that 
has the crimson thread woven into it, 
the stain of the Spotless Victim.— 
The Christian Herald. 

849. The Blood Between. 

A quaint man used to carry a little 
book, which he took very often from 
his pocket, and which he called his 
“biography.” It had only three leaves, 
and there was not a word written on 
any of them; yet he said the book 
told the whole story of his life. The 
first leaf was black,—that was his 
sin; that was his condition by nature. 
He would shudder when he looked at 
it. The second was red,—that was the 
blood of Christ; and his face glowed 
when he gazed upon it. The third 
was white,—that was himself washed 
in Christ’s blood, made whiter than 
snow. His book told the whole story 
of every redeemed life. Between the 
black of our sins and the white of 
redemption must always come the red 
of Christ’s blood.— J. R. Miller. 

850. United with Christ. 

An aged Christian who spoke with 
so much confidence of her salvation 
that a friend thought to chide her a 
little for over-confidence. He said: 
“What would you think if you were 
to slip through the fingers of Christ, 
after all.” “Oh, I cannot,” she said, 
“I am one of His fingers.” That was 
Scriptural: “Now ye are the body of 
Christ, and severally members there¬ 
of.” He has constituted Himself our 
very selves, even including this body 
of ours; for, “Know ye not that your 
bodies are members of Christ.” How 
even our physical bodies, together with 
our whole being, can be joined in 
literal union with the eternal Christ 
we cannot understand; but He plainly 
would have us accept this by faith. I 



REMEMBERING THE LIVING CHRIST 


205 


am not a material instrument He can 
lay aside or let slip. I am a member 
of the body of Christ. This is a 
blessed theme for meditation at the 
Communion service.— H. 

851. Remembering the Living 

Christ. 

A converted Mohammedan was 
called before the authorities for read¬ 
ing Christian books; but before judg¬ 
ment was passed he begged to be 
allowed to ask a question. “I am 
traveling,” he said; “I look around 
for some direction and discover two 
men; one is dead, the other alive. 
Which of the two am I to ask for ad¬ 
vice—the dead or the living?” “Oh, 
the living, of course,” all cried out. 
“Well,” he added, “why require me to 
go to Mahomet, who is dead, instead 
of to Christ, who is alive?” “Go 
about your business,” were the words 
with which he was dismissed. In the 
Lord’s Supper we are remembering 
the living Christ.— H. 

852. Telling Him So. 

Dr. Dale, when in Australia, speak¬ 
ing on one occasion of the relation of 
a pastor to his congregation, and 
pleading for a freer reciprocity of 
feeling between them, said that he 
often felt inclined to say to his own 
people, “‘If you love me, tell me so.” 
This speech reached England sooner 
than the speaker, and some months 
later, at the congregational “Welcome 
Home,” almost the first object that 
met his eye was a large scroll, and 
these words, “We love you, and we 
tell you so.” By observing the Lord’s 
Supper we tell Christ that we love 
Him .—Sunday School Chronicle. 

853. Getting the New View of It. 

“It was just after the service of the 
Lord’s Supper, and a girl stood silent 
and alone in the vestibule of the 
church. She was in the beautiful dawn 
of young womanhood, brilliant, at¬ 


tractive, a leader among her com¬ 
panions but some of the older church 
members were a bit anxious lest she 
should be a little too eager for the 
‘good times’ that beckoned her from 
every direction; lest she should for¬ 
get that she had once responded to 
the Master’s voice saying, ‘Follow 
Me.’ 

“But to-day her cheeks had lost a 
little of their color; and in her eyes 
was a new expression, a depth un¬ 
known before, even though they were 
very close to tears. 

“‘What is it, Miriam?’ asked a 
kindly, gray-haired woman with 
motherly kindness; ‘js anything 
troubling you to-day, or—?’ 

“ ‘Oh, no, Aunt Lydia,’ the girl 
answered eagerly; ‘it is only that—I 
never knew what it meant before. 
Sometimes it has seemed almost fool¬ 
ish to me—you all taking that bit of 
bread so solemnly. But to-day it came 
to me, “In remembrance of me.” “Oh, 
isn’t it wonderful?’ 

“‘Yes, dear,’ said the other lady; 
‘and it will grow more wonderful the 
longer you live.’ ” 

854. The Lord’s Supper. 

The Lord’s Supper is at once a 
Memorial, a Covenant, a Communion, 
and a Call to Separation .—William h. 
Pettingill. 

855. A Suspension Bridge. 

The Lord’s Supper has been likened 
to a suspension bridge, spanning this 
present age, conducting the sheep of 
the Great Shepherd from the cross 
to the glory, and through “the suffer¬ 
ings of this present time.” It is like 
the beautiful Twenty-third Psalm, 
connecting the agonies of the Twenty- 
second with the triumphs of the 
Twenty-fourth. “As often as ye eat 
this bread, and drink this cup, ye do 
shew the Lord’s death till He come” 
(1 Cor. 11:28).— Rev. W. L. Pet¬ 
tingill. 



206 


ARE ANY OMITTED? 


856. God Speaks in the Communion. 

We once had a trained nurse in our 
home taking care of a sick woman. 
She was very fond of her patient and 
extremely anxious to please her and 
to see her recover. All day long she 
would attend to her duties and then lie 
down at night to rest. What I noticed 
especially was this: her ears were 
always open for the ringing of her 
patient’s bell or for the sound of her 
voice. No matter what she was doing 
or what other noises were made, she 
could always hear the call that was 
meant for her. 

Is not that to be our attitude to¬ 
ward the call of God? In the midst 
of all the noises that surround us, 
our ears are to be open for one special 
sound—the sound of God’s voice.— 
S. D. Chambers. 

857. Are Any Omitted? 

It was Communion Sunday in our 
church. My thoughts were of my own 
unworthiness and Christ’s love to me, 
until the minister asked the usual ques¬ 
tion: “Has any one been omitted in 
the distribution of the bread?” And it 
seemed to me I could see millions on 
millions of men and women rising 
silently in China and Africa and India, 
and all the countries where they need 
the Lord and know Him not, to testify 
that they had been omitted in the dis¬ 
tribution of the bread and wine. And 
they can take it from no hands but 
ours, and we do not pass it on. 

858. The Communion a Proclama¬ 

tion. 

The Communion Supper is in itself 
a proclamation: “Ye proclaim the 
Lord’s death till He come.” By sitting 
together at His table we are witness¬ 
ing for Him. Those with whom we 
company we commend.— Rev. John 
Timothy Stone, D.D. 

859. Peace. 

“And they laid the pilgrim in an 
upper chamber whose windows looked 


toward the rising of the sun, and the 
name of that chamber was Peace.”— 
John Bunyan. 

That little room where weary ones may rest 
Above all other room it is the best; 

Here strife of tongues and noise and tumult 
cease, 

They rest in quiet—they who rest in Peace. 

From out the eastern windows broad and 
fair, 

They rise and breathe the fragrant morning 
air— 

There surcease of trouble when the sun 
Begins once more his daily race to run. 

Above they see the fleecy clouds that pass. 
Below, the dewdrops sparkling in the grass. 
No anger vexes, all their troubles cease, 
They rest in quiet—they who rest in Peace. 

So may I live in this wild world of care 
That I may have of Peace a little share. 
For surely he of all men is most blest 
Who in that little room lies down to rest. 

— S. L. Frey. 

860. Communion a Remembrancer. 

The eucharist is decidedly a remem¬ 
brancer. It has in it an element of 
faith as well as hope. The ability to 
look forward is bounded by memory. 
Recognition of past goodness is in¬ 
deed a commendable sweetness. The 
parent teaches the child to say “thank 
you” from its earliest hours. That was 
a master stroke in Odyssey where 
Penelope weaving her silken web re¬ 
calls her absent lord. So in the 
eucharist does the church—the bride- 
elect—recall her absent Lord. “This 
do in remembrance of Me.” Whenever 
a church or creed has forgotten one of 
the holy elements of its faith then 
does it begin to decline. 

The eucharist is the connecting link 
in faith. It binds the present to the 
time of the crucifixion and resurrec¬ 
tion of our Lord .—Bishop Burgess. 

861. Till He Come. 

In the celebration of the Lord’s Sup¬ 
per we are commanded to observe it 
in remembrance of Christ. It is, how¬ 
ever, no commemoration of defeat, for 
our Lord gained His greatest victory 
and His most signal triumph in His 
death upon the cross for the sins of 



COMMUNING AS COVENANTERS 


207 


men. It was through His vicarious 
atoning death that He bore our sins 
and carried our sorrows. It was 
through the cross that He achieved 
for His people the great deliverance. 
In commanding His people throughout 
all ages to remember His death in this 
helpful sacrament, He is virtually say¬ 
ing: Commemorate My victory, My 
triumph over sin and death and hell. 
Do this that you may with faith and 
patience await My return. “For, as 
oft as you eat this bread and drink 
this cup, ye do show the Ford’s death 
till He come.” 

862. “Sun of My Soul” 

Tennyson was walking one day in 
his garden with a friend. The con¬ 
versation turned to the subject of re¬ 
ligion—a subject upon which Lord 
Tennyson was inclined to be very reti¬ 
cent. The friend asked him what he 
thought of Jesus Christ. The poet 
paused, pointed to a flower that grew 
by the path, and said, “What the sun 
is to that flower, Jesus Christ is to my 
soul.” It was a beautiful answer. 
What the sun is to the flower Christ 
is to the soul that trusts in Him. He 
is its light and its life. And perhaps 
there is no place where the disciple 
comes so near to the Master, and 
realizes so fully what he owes to 
his Lord, as at the holy communion, 
where he recalls the dying love of 
Jesus, where he remembers Gethsem- 
ane and Calvary, and receives the 
consecrated symbols of Christ’s broken 
body and poured-out blood.— Rev. John 
Woods , D.D. 

863. In the Scales. 

An instrument used for weighing 
gold in the assay office is balanced so 
delicately that, when two pieces of 
paper, of exactly the same size and 
weight are placed on the balances, it 
still retains the same poise. But if a 
name be written on one of the papers 
it will turn the scale. The name of 


Jesus on the heart turns the scale into 
peace and presence of God. It is the 
possession of His name thus written 
that spells “saved.” It is the lack of 
it that spells “lost.”— D. R. McGregor. 

864. We Are Equal Here. 

The Duke of Wellington once took 
part in the Lord’s Supper in a country 
church. A poor countryman entered 
church and walked down the aisle, 
taking his place at the table next the 
duke. One of the pew-openers touched 
the old man on the shoulder and whis¬ 
pered to him to wait until the duke 
had received the bread and wine. The 
duke heard the whisper. He took the 
old man by the hand and prevented 
him from rising; then he said, “Do 
not move; we are all equal here.” At 
the Lord’s table we are all God’s 
children, and He does not think 
whether we are rich or poor. We are 
just children. 

865. Communing as Covenanters. 

“This is my blood of the new cove¬ 
nant.” 

We should go away from the feast 
as covenanters. We have taken the 
new covenant in His blood, and the 
holy sacrament will be fresh upon our 
lips; and there must be something 
about us akin to the Scottish Cove¬ 
nanters when they emerged from Grey- 
friars Churchyard, having entered 
into holy bond and covenant with the 
Lord. There must be something in 
our very demeanor telling the world 
that we have been at a great tryst, and 
our lives must be bravely, grandly 
quiet, confident in the glorious Ally 
with whom the covenant has been 
made. There must be nothing dubious 
in our stride.— Dr. J. H. Jowett. 

866. Holding On or Passing On. 

A little leaflet has been recently 
published based on the supposition of 
a man holding on to the cup, at the 
Lord’s Supper, instead of passing it 



208 


THE HEART-WARMING SACRAMENT 


on. America has received it but has 
not passed it on as she should. “The 
heathen are perishing for want of that 
cup, but we do not pass it on to them: 
is that right?” 

“Drink ye all of it.” The minister 
asked the usual question at the close 
of the communion service, “Have any 
been omitted?” There was no audible 
reply, but to a woman there, like a 
flash, came a vision of vast multitudes 
of longing faces—millions upon mil¬ 
lions stretching round the world— 
Chinese, African, Indian, with dumb 
lips, but saying with their reproach¬ 
ful eyes, “Yes, we have been omitted.” 

867. A Suggestive Painting. 

Leonardo da Vinci’s Fresco, in the 
Refectory of Sta Maria delle Grazie, 
at Milan, “was the most consummate 
outcome of his genius. Every other 
picture of the Lord’s Supper is 
dwarfed into insignificance by the side 
of this. Christ Himself remains ma¬ 
jestic in isolation, His wonderful ma¬ 
jesty only slightly dimmed by sadness. 
The apostles are divided into four 
groups. ‘At the right of the Saviour, 
Peter is leaning across the traitor 
Judas to whisper in the ear of the 
youthful and beautiful St. John that 
he should ask Christ whom He meant 
to indicate. Peter is ardent and ex¬ 
cited; John is sunk in sorrow. Judas 
is grasping the bag in his right hand, 
while his left, half lifted from the 
table, shows that he, too, is alarmed. 
His face is powerful and bad, but not 
revolting. His arm has, at least, in 
Raphael Mengs’ engraving, with evil 
omen, upset the salt cellar.’ ”— Rev. 
F. W. Farrar. 

868. The King’s Lesson. 

George IV, wishing to take the 
sacrament, sent for the Bishop of Win¬ 
chester to administer it. The mes¬ 
senger having loitered on his way, a 
considerable time elapsed before the 
bishop arrived, and some irritation 


had been manifested by the king. On 
the arrival of the prelate, his delay 
was complained of and its cause ex¬ 
plained. His Majesty immediately 
rang his bell, and commanded the at¬ 
tendance of the messenger. On his 
entering the room he rebuked him 
sharply, and dismissed him from his 
service. Then, turning to the bishop, 
he said, “Now, my Lord, if you please, 
we will proceed.” The bishop, with 
great mildness, but at the same time 
with firmness, refused to administer 
the sacrament while any irritation or 
anger toward a fellow-creature re¬ 
mained in the mind of the king, who, 
suddenly recollecting himself, said, 
“My Lord, you are right.” He then 
sent for the offending person, whom 
he forgave and restored to favor in 
terms of great kindness and conde¬ 
scension .—Free Methodist. 

870. The Heart-Warming Sacra¬ 

ment. 

We cannot lose the marvelous, heart¬ 
warming experience of the Sacrament, 
when the soul is in accord with the 
Lord. We will scent His presence, 
hear His voice, feel His power. The 
soul will register the fact and the old 
miracle of fellowship will be repeated 
in us. With Whittier it will confess 

“That it was well to come 
For deeper rest to this still room, 

For here the habit of the soul 
Feels less the outer world’s control; 

The strength of mutual purpose pleads 
More earnestly our common needs; 

And from the silence multiplied 
By these still forms on either side. 

The world that time and sense have known 
Falls off and leaves us God alone.” 

— Rev. C. JV. Laufer. 

871. What We Know in the Heart. 

One night, when Dr. John G. Paton 
was writing late, he heard a knock at 
the door. He called out, “Who’s 
there?” A voice softly answered, 
“Missi, it is Lamu.” This was a 
woman who had been rejected from 
the Lord’s Table, because of the sins 
of her former life. She said: “I 



OUR SHADOWED FEASTS 


209 


cannot sleep; I cannot eat; my soul 
is in pain. Am I to be shut out from 
Jesus? My heart is very bad; yet I 
know that it is my joy to try and 
please my Saviour.” Mr. Paton tried 
to guide and console her, and she lis¬ 
tened very eagerly. Then she said, 
“Missi, you and the elders may think 
it right to keep me back from the 
Lord’s Table; but I know in my heart 
that Jesus has received me; and if I 
were dying now Jesus would take me 
to glory.” Her look and manner 
thrilled the missionary. He felt that, 
if Christ were in his place, he would 
not turn the poor woman away, and a 
few days later he received her with 
nine others at the Lord’s Table. 

872. Note of Triumph. 

We must not forget that even in 
this sad night there was the note of 
triumph. The feast ended with a 
hymn. What they sang probably was 
the concluding portion of the Hallel, 
the special group of Psalms assigned to 
the Passover. It would contain such 
verses as Psalm 116: 13, “I will take 
the cup of salvation, and call upon 
the name of the Lord”; and Psalm 
118: 29, “O give thanks unto the Lord; 
for He is good; for His mercy en- 
dureth for ever.” The remembrance 
of what Christ has done for us should 
always fill our hearts with love and 
our lips with song. “The joy of the 
Lord is your strength.” 

873. Bread of the World. 

Bread of the world, in mercy broken! 

Wine of the soul, in mercy shed! 

By whom the words of life were spoken. 

And in whose death our sins are dead, 
Book on the hearts by sorrow broken; 

Book on the tears by sinners shed; 

And by Thy feast to us the token 

That by Thy grace our souls are fed. 

—Bishop Heber. 

874. Communion Attitude. 

“Sweet the moments, rich in blessing, 
Which before the Cross we spend; 
Life and health and peace possessing 
From the sinner’s dying Friend.” 

14 


Dr. E. F. Hallenbeck tells us of the 
deep impression left upon his mind and 
heart by Rubens’ famous picture of 
the Crucifixion, which he saw in the 
Royal Gallery at Antwerp. 

“While I stood before it everything 
else faded from my vision. There are 
many figures in the painting, but I saw 
only the loving, grief-scarred face 
upon that middle cross. My compan¬ 
ions passed on, I was riveted to the 
spot. And when at length some one 
reminded me that the moments were 
slipping by, and I went on to view 
some of the other pictures in those 
celebrated corridors, it was to have 
everything else blurred with the vision 
of that matchless face. In a little 
while I was back upon Golgotha, bath¬ 
ing once more in my Saviour’s love.” 

Well may we forget everything else 
and think what our crucified Saviour 
means to us.— Rev. J. Y. Ewart, D.D. 

875. Our Shadowed Feasts. 

So often in our gatherings in church 
or home, even on the most memorable 
occasions, we are not fully and wholly 
united. What is wrong? Some one 
has been betraying Christ? For Christ 
prayed then that His disciples might 
be one. We would do well to ask 
ourselves, or rather to ask our Lord, 
“Can it be I that am breaking the 
loyalty, the unity, of the cause of 
Christ?” The disciples were better 
than we; each inquired concerning 
himself. We are all too apt to look 
around at others and to forget to ex¬ 
amine our own consciences. If the 
family group is unhappy, and some 
one is surely to blame, “Lord, is it 
I ?” If the class is going to pieces, or 
the school is running down, and some 
one is neglecting duty, “Lord, is it I ?” 
—Christian Herald. 

876. The Upper Room an Institu¬ 

tion. 

The upper room is an institution in 
the social life of the East: the “upper 



210 


CHRIST’S LIFE BY BLOOD 


room” has become equally significant 
in the redemption life of the world. 
It is the trysting-place of privacy and 
intimacy, a “secret place of the Most 
High.” To enter there is to with¬ 
draw from the lower room of worldli¬ 
ness and to be secluded in the “upper 
room” of the intimacy with God. The 
“upper room” was no mere accident 
or incident in the institution of the 
sacrament of the Supper; it was also 
a selected place, selected by the Lord’s 
providence, which went ahead and sent 
the man with the pitcher to show the 
disciples the way. 

The twilight is falling rapidly now. 
Things that were seen through the 
window are disappearing and those 
other things that one sees through the 
windows of the soul are beginning to 
come into view. That table there—I 
did not notice it until now. It is a 
strange looking table, set around the 
three sides of a square, and the guests 
are reclining upon couches. Is not 
that He? and surely, yes, that is John 
reclining upon His bosom, “far ben” 
with the Saviour. They are in the 
“upper room” of the world’s redemp¬ 
tion.— Sunday School Times. 

877. The Covenant. 

Once get the Oriental idea of a 
covenant, which was the idea of Jesus 
and His disciples, firmly fixed in the 
mind, and I know of nothing so satis¬ 
fying to the soul, so helpful to faith, 
so stimulating to fidelity, or so hope¬ 
ful for the final triumph of the King¬ 
dom of Christ. It would mean to us 
that when we celebrate the Lord’s 
Supper, we pledge ourselves and all 
that we are and have to Him and His 
interests, until we meet again on a 
like occasion to renew our covenant, 
and so on through life. On the other 
hand, our Lord pledges himself and 
all that He is and has to do for us, 
all the power in heaven and earth, and 
all that in Him lies.— Thomas Douglas. 


878. Experience at the Lord’s Table. 

What if the Master had left us 
without instituting this Supper? How 
many precious lessons and experiences 
we would have lost. The scene is a 
most beautiful one when, reclining at 
the table with those who had been 
His nearest followers, he tells them 
the meaning of His love and sacri¬ 
fice. This experience may be ours 
when we meet at His table.— Rev. 
John Timothy Stone, D.D. 

879. Christ’s Life by Blood. 

A physician, Mary F. Cushman, 
M.D., of Farmington, Me., writes of 
a case described to her by a promi¬ 
nent and very skillful physician, when 
transfusion of blood was tried in order 
to save a life,—a little child, upon 
whom every art of the medical pro¬ 
fession had been used in vain. Death 
was near, and seemed inevitableand 
the infusion of healthy blood was sug¬ 
gested as a last resort. The child’s 
father volunteered to give the blood 
needed; and with every precaution, 
slowly, but steadily, the life-current 
from a vein in the strong man’s arm 
was conducted into the blood stream 
of the almost dying child. 

The operation successfully com¬ 
pleted, there came a surprise. The 
doctor said “The child was well at 
once. There was no convalescence. 
I never before saw such a recovery.” 

What an illustration this is of the 
soul’s cure! Dying of sin, all other 
means ineffectual, receiving the life 
of God in place of the old polluted 
life, at once a new creation, alive 
unto God, the life more abundant 
throbbing in all its being. And the 
father’s love, the father’s sacrifice, 
just a faint suggestion of the cost 
of our new life! — Charles G. Trum¬ 
bull. 

880. The Eucharist. 

The Supper is often called “The 
Eucharist,” that is, “the Thanksgiv- 



THE GOODMAN’S HOUSE 


211 


mg.” A good name for it, too, since 
its Founder ordained it with the giv¬ 
ing of thanks. Standing on the other 
side of the Cross, with the emblems 
of his own body and blood in his 
hands—that body so soon to be bro¬ 
ken, and that blood so soon to be 
poured out—he yet “gave thanks”! 
For the joy set before him, he was 
about to endure the cross, despising 
the shame. If he could at such a 
moment give thanks, surely we may 
do so, on this side of the cross, hav¬ 
ing entered into His labors, and 
having by means of His cross been 
brought nigh to God.— P. 

881. The Upper Room. 

“The “upper room” is the power¬ 
house of the kingdom of God. 
Wherever in the world one may find 
things being done for Christ, if one 
trace back the lines of power, they 
will be found to start from some 
“upper room.” These are days of 
great revivals. Great things are being 
done, and the power of God is falling 
upon multitudes of men, evil men of 
the world. The power is not in a 
man, not in an organization, not in a 
great aggregate of influences and con¬ 
ditions. It comes from the “upper 
room” in which the people are called 
to tarry “far ben” with God many 
days .—Sunday School Times. 

882. The Goodman’s House. 

The unnamed faithfuls are the 
overwhelming majority. We know 
the few names of leaders. The great 
crowds who follow the leaders re¬ 
main unknown. Who was this man 
in whose home the Lord’s last pass- 
over and the fii st Lord’s Supper 
were eaten? No one knows. What 
was he? Everyone knows,—a faith¬ 
ful personal friend of our Lord 
Jesus. 

Those were serious days for friend¬ 
ship with Jesus. The plot against his 
life was definitely settled upon. Je¬ 


rusalem was the center of the plot. 
Things there were at a fever heat. 
The utmost secrecy must be observed. 
This man had much to risk. He 
may likely enough have been a man 
of property and position. But the 
Master asks the use of his house. 
And he gave gladly what was asked 
regardless of the danger. 

The Master knew his name, and 
has not forgotten it. He gratefully 
appreciated this simple token of 
friendship when things were at their 
worst for him. There is an advan¬ 
tage in being one of the unnamed 
faithfuls. We know within ourselves 
that whatever we do, we do for Jesus’ 
sweet sake alone,—not for any credit. 
No crowds will know about us. But 
He will, and so the faithfulness may 
be purer.— Rev. S. D. Gordon. 

883. French and Americans at 
Communion. 

It was in the little French Presby¬ 
terian church at Sammur that I wit¬ 
nessed one of the most impressive 
scenes of my whole experience. Rev. 
J. L. Hood, the religious work direc¬ 
tor, had arranged with Pastor Dumas 
for a special communion service to 
which had been invited both the 
French congregation and the officers 
in training at the artillery school. 
Among the - French congregation I 
saw only two men, and they were 
over 60 years of age. Pastor Dumas 
told me that practically all of the 
male members of his congregation 
had either been killed or were at the 
front. His own 17-year-old boy 
had just left the previous day to go 
into training. Mingled With this 
little flock gathered in the chancel 
to receive the holy communion I 
counted ninety-four American officers 
and a large number of enlisted men. 
It seemed to me that it was pro¬ 
phetic of a new day for the church 
both in America and in France.— 
Rev, R. W. Veach. 



212 


COMMUNION JOY 


884. His Death and Life. 

“As often as ye eat this bread, and 
drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s 
death till he come.” 

An old-time Quaker preacher had 
a strange experience at his conver¬ 
sion. He fell asleep and dreamed. 
He seemed to be dead, and laid out 
for his burial when a shining face 
came and bent over him, saying softly. 
“The man is dead.” Then another 
came and laid a hand over his heart, 
and said, “It does not throb; he’s 
dead.” Then another came and laid a 
hand upon his flesh, “It is cold; he is 
surely dead.” So one by one came 
angels and stood around his couch, 
till one of kindlier face than the rest 
came and looked upon him, lifted 
his hand, and said, “Nay, what is 
this? A nail-print in his palm, and 
a nail-print in his other palm. This 
man is not dead; he has been cru¬ 
cified! He has been crucified with 
Christ and ,lives with him!” He 
awoke and found the place in the 
Scripture where it is written, “I 
am crucified with Christ; neverthe¬ 
less I live; yet not I, Christ liveth 
in me !”—Sabbath Reading. 

885. Scourging Jesus. 

“This Jesus whom ye crucified.” 
Dr. Alexander Whyte tells the story 
of a man who dreamed that he saw 
Jesus tied to a whipping-post and 
a soldier was scourging him. He saw 
the whip in the soldier’s hand, with 
its thick lashes studded here and there 
with bits of lead, which were in¬ 
tended to cut into the flesh. As the 
soldier brought the whip down on 
the bare shoulders of Jesus, the 
dreamer shuddered as he saw the 
marks and blood-stains it left be¬ 
hind. When the soldier raised his 
hand to strike again, the dreamer 
rushed forward, intending to stop 
him. As he did so, the soldier 
turned around and the dreamer recog¬ 
nized—himself. We often think how 


cruel those men must have been who 
scourged and crucified Jesus. But 
whenever we do wrong, we, too, cause 
the heart of Jesus to bleed with sor¬ 
row and pain .—Christian Herald. 

886. The Broken Body. 

Rev. Dr. John Kelman has told us 
an incident of the war. A friend of 
his was walking along a trench when 
he spied a soldier boy resting in his 
khaki overcoat. He spoke a friendly 
word to the lad but received no 
answer. Stooping down he saw the 
thin, red line of blood upon the face 
that told its own story. “Then,” said 
he, “with an overwhelming rush the 
words swept over me: ‘This is my 
body which is broken for you.’ ” 
Standing there by the ruined trench 
and the broken boy, the traveller 
got a new picture of the Upper Room. 
He understood the eleventh chapter 
of First Corinthians as he had never 
understood before. He saw Calvary 
in France. He had a flash-light vision 
of the cross that was clearer than 
all the time-exposures of the gospel 
story with which he was so familiar. 
—Herbert Booth Smith, D.D. 

887. Communion Joy. 

“God so loved the world that he 
gave his only begotten Son, that who¬ 
soever believeth on him should not 
pierish, but havel everlasting life.” 
It is a backward look to the cross, 
you say; yes, but for the Frenchman 
to look back to the route of the 
Germans at the Marne, and to look 
back to Verdun, and see General 
Joffre standing off the enemy with 
his famous declaration, “They shall 
not pass!” does that seem doleful 
to you? 

It all depends upon whether the 
“goodman of the house” is getting the 
“guest-chamber” ready for the com¬ 
ing of the Guest. I love to think of 
this unnamed “goodman,” when he 
received the announcement that next 




IT REKINDLES LOVE 


213 


Sunday would be communion Sun¬ 
day; shall we say he read it on the 
church calendar? I love to think of 
him taking a little time from the 
hurry and bustle of life between that 
and Sunday to sweep and dust that 
room. And he saw that fresh table¬ 
cloths were laid, and he picked with 
his own hand a bouquet, and took a 
last loving glance about the room as 
he said, “I know it is not good enough 
for him; but, oh, it is such a joy to 
give him the best I have.”— Rev. John 
F. Cowan, D.D. 

888. It Rekindles Love. 

Each recurring observance of the 
Lord’s Supper rekindles love. You 
have a absent friend. You have not 
thought of him for a long time. But 
something starts a train of thought, 
and you allow yourself time to medi¬ 
tate. As you sit and think, how all 
his kindly ways and loving words and 
deeds come back to you, and you find 
your love for him burning warm and 
full. Your meditation of him is sweet. 
Going through your papers, you open 
an old letter. It is from a former 
and most forgotten schoolmate. But 
as you read and reflect that friend 
seems almost to be at your side again. 
Just as does the remembrance of 
Christ in the Lord’s Supper bless us 
and quicken love for Him.— H. 

B89. Seeing Him Again. 

Among my most treasured pos¬ 
sessions is a pair of gloves which I 
gave to my mother on her last birth¬ 
day. If I take one and breathe into 
it, immediately it assumes the form 
of her hand, the hand which was 
ever stretched forth to serve and 
soothe. I do not need such aids to 
recall my mother, but there is nothing 
which makes me thrill, as if in her 
very presence, like that glove stamped 
with the impress of her fingers. 
And so it is with this sacrament. 
The simple service is stamped with 


the impress of Jesus. In our minds 
we can reconstruct him.— Sunday- 
School Chronicle. 

890. “He Took the Cup” 

Some years ag • there lived in a 
thatched cottage at the head of a 
Scottish glen a poor Highland widow. 
It was a poor home, but on a cup¬ 
board was an old cracked cup, covered 
with a glass globe, as though it were 
an object of considerable value. 
That old cup had a history. Years 
before, one autumn day, a carriage 
with a lady inside stopped at the door 
of the Jonely cottage. The lady asked 
for a little water, and it was brought 
for her by the woman in this very 
cup. To the old woman’s astonish¬ 
ment she afterward learned that the 
lady who used the cup was Queen 
Victoria. The fact that her lips had 
touched the rim of the old cup con¬ 
secrated it, and made it an object of 
great value to the old widow. Since 
Christ’s lips have touched the cup 
it has become sacred to us.— Rev . 
William Hay, D.D. 

891. Have Any Been Omitted? 

“Drink ye all of it.” 

One day in a large church the com¬ 
munion service was about to be con¬ 
cluded. As the last member served 
at the altar was about to retire, the 
minister asked: “Have any been omit¬ 
ted?” A woman kneeling at the board 
said that it seemed to her as the 
minister asked this question that she 
could see women arise from the 
countries of the earth,—from Japan, 
Korea, Africa, India, and China. 
They seemed to arise and cry out, 
“Yes, we have been omitted. No 
one has ever broken the Bread of 
Life to us.” 

“Sudden, before my inward, open vision. 
Millions of faces crowded up to view; 

Sad eyes that said, ‘For us is no pro¬ 
vision: 

Give us your Saviour, too.’ ” 



214 


UNITED LANGUAGES AND CREEDS 


** ‘Give us,’ they cry, ‘Your cup of conso¬ 
lation, 

Never to our outreaching hands ’tis 
passed. 

We long for the Desire of every nation. 
And, oh, we die so fast!’ ” 

—The Revivalist. 

8 g 32 . The Form without Spirit. 

In our Communion we are to be 
watchful that we worship not in form 
alone without the spirit. In an old 
church at Valsbol the men for cen¬ 
turies followed the practice, when 
returning from the sacrament, of 
standing on a particular spot and 
bowing in a certain direction. Why 
they did it no one knew. But later, 
in cleaning one of the walls, a picture 
of the Virgin Mary was discovered. 
It had been covered up by whitewash 
four centuries before, and the wor¬ 
shipers continued to bow toward 
it long after every one had forgotten 
that it was there. Are we by mere 
habit bowing before the lost re¬ 
ligious experience of youth, or the 
religion of a former age unexperi¬ 
enced by us?— H. 

893. United Languages and Creeds. 

Major Lauchlan Maclean Watt, 
who served as a chaplain in a sad 
hospital of France, who accompanied 
the Gordon Highlanders at the 
Somme, the Ancre, and the trenches 
above Armentieres, and who later 
served with the Black Watch at 
Ypres, and in the famous salient, has 
written some of those experiences 
in a book, called “The Heart of the 
Soldier.” It is truly a glimpse into 
the hearts of those whom he served. 
As you scan through the book, you 
pause again and again at some rudely 
improvised table around which the 
men gathered to sit with their Lord 
before they ventured into, the un¬ 
certain outcome of No-man’s Land. 
In one chapter, entitled “Links with 
Home,” eight out of the thirteen pages 
are devoted to such experiences. Let 


me give the gist of one. One 
hundred and twenty men of different 
languages and creeds had crowded 
into a dim, draughty hut to receive 
the Feast. They sat there as rev¬ 
erently as though it were “the chancel 
of some great cathedral, holy with 
the deepest memories of Christian 
generations.” It was the night be¬ 
fore they departed for the front. 
They began by singing the Twenty- 
third Psalm. That night there was 
an unusual power and sweetness in 
that song. “They sang it very 
tenderly, for it spoke to them of 
times when they had held their 
mother’s hand, and looked up in their 
faces, in the church at home, wander¬ 
ing why tears were there, as the 
dear old hearts remembered. Some 
of them also—the tears—were on 
their cheeks as they sang that old 
Psalm very precious in the homeland, 
very precious here; and it is a soul¬ 
shaking thing to see a strong man’s 
tears.” And then he adds in another 
paragraph, “It only needed the simple 
words to seal that Sacrament.” The 
next morning, in the gray light, the 
men who had been touched by the 
thought of home and the dear ones 
there, and the big throbbing thought 
of consecration, were marching off 
to grip the very hand of death, in 
sacrifice, like Christ’s, for others.” 
There is no other experience either 
in or out of the Church which holds 
the same power in the hearts of men 
—G. T. 

894. Communion of Soldiers. 

“One evening after passing from 
a cheerless hut to visit another place, 
a couple of men of the Black Watch 
came around the corner. They 
touched their bonnets and said, ‘We 
are going to the front to-night, sir, 
and we thought we’d like to have the 
Sacrament before we go. Can you 



COMMUNION IN A HAYLOFT IN FRANCE 215 


give it to us?’ ‘How many?’ I asked. 
‘About sixteen,’ was the reply. I 
said, ‘At six o’clock in the shed next 
to this one, be present with your 
friends.’ Off went the two with a 
deepened light in their faces, while I 
prepared the place that was to be 
to some of them truly the room of 
the Fast Supper. A tablecloth bor¬ 
rowed from the mess and a little wine 
from the same source helped for our 
preparations. The men began to 
gather, and at six o’clock, one hundred 
and twenty men sat down at the com¬ 
munion. The Twenty-third Psalm 
was sung, ‘Yea, though I walk in 
death’s dark vale, yet will I fear none 
ill, For Thou are with me.’ ” 

“What a power was in it. What 
a spell of wonder, of comforting and 
unlifting in this land of war! They 
sang it tenderly and softly, the tears 
were on their cheeks as they sang the 
old psalm, very precious in the home¬ 
land, and very precious here, and it 
is a soul-shaking thing to see a strong 
man in tears. 

“Only a night or two later we had 
another link with higher things. It 
was in a tent where the Y. M. C. A. 
was busy selling tea and coffee. A 
fine lad from Cheshire said, ‘Give us 
communion that we may remember 
when we go, that high ideals call us.’ 
Instantly I said, ‘Yes.’ At the' ap¬ 
pointed hour three hundred men had 
the Sacrament administered to them, 
whose faces to-morrow would be set 
towards the battle. I shall never for¬ 
get the solemn occasion. These were 
the children of sacrifice. The light 
of God was on their faces. To-day 
the dust of Belgium and France may 
be mingled with their dust. But the 
grass will grow along the field of 
conflict, and new hopes will spring 
in the ruined land of Belgium, where 
these are sleeping .’’—Chaplain Lach¬ 
lan Maclean Watt. 


895. Communion in a Hayloft in 
France. 

In a letter to the members of the 
session of First Presbyterial Church, 
Kansas City, Missouri, the pastor, 
Rev. William G. Isett, related his 
experience in conducting a “real’’ 
communion with some of his boys, 
Catholic and Protestant. 

“I had communion service for my 
boys yesterday. Some Catholic boys 
asked to come to my ‘mass’ also, and 
I greeted them gladly. 

“The place was, of course, ‘some¬ 
where in France.’ The ‘church’ was 
an upper room, formerly a hayloft, 
now empty, with a shell hole in the 
roof. The table had newspapers for 
a cloth. The ‘service’ was of two 
hideous green bowls, a brown jug 
for the wine which French officers 
bought for me, and two cracked 
brown plates, on which I had our 
regular canteen sweet biscuits. The 
major sent me a magnificent bouquet 
of beautiful pink roses, which I put 
in an exploded shell. 

“There were no elders or even 
deacons. I served the bread and 
wine myself. The audience and the 
preacher were dressed in flannel 
shirts, big army shoes and rough flan¬ 
nel suits, all dirty and dusty from 
crawling over the ground and sleep¬ 
ing in dugouts. My piano had seen 
happy days; the pianist stood his 
gun against my table but left his 
ammunition belt on. His brother is 
organist in a big church at home, 
and this boy is a musician of no mean 
ability. The ‘soloist’ had been called 
to trench duty just before the service; 
otherwise we should have had a solo 
by a man who gets over $100 a night 
at home. We all had gas masks over 
our shoulders ready for instant use. 

“The text was John 15:5; the 
audience the most attentive I ever had. 
It was a real communion and the 



2 16 


A MIDNIGHT COMMUNION SERVICE 


first these boys had had since leaving 
home.” 

896. A Midnight Communion Serv¬ 
ice. 

I have been asked to tell the story 
of one of the most unique and thril¬ 
ling religious services which it has 
ever been my privilege to attend. 
It occurred last summer, while I was 
Religious Work Director at Camp 
Merritt, N. J., the great embarkation 
camp, as it then was, through which 
hundreds of thousands of our splen¬ 
did young soldiers were passing on 
their way to the battle front in 
Europe. 

At the close of a very busy Satur¬ 
day I had retired late and was just 
dropping off to sleep, when I was 
startled into consciousness by the 
flash of a bull’s-eye lantern into my 
face. The door of the little room 
which my two roommates and I oc¬ 
cupied at the back of Y. M. C. A. 
Hut was not locked, and our big 
genial secretary, who was charged 
with the responsibility of Hooking 
after the welfare of incoming and 
outgoing troops, had entered and was 
pointing the lantern at me. With him 
was a young lieutenant who turned 
out to be a Roman Catholic, and at 
whose request the Secretary had come 
to me. He brought the word that a 
number of men under his command, 
who were Protestants and who were 
to start overseas that night, had asked 
if they could partake of the com¬ 
munion before they marched out of 
camp. In accordance with their de¬ 
sire, he asked me to come at once to 
their barracks and conduct the serv¬ 
ice, for the time of their departure 
was so near that they would not be 
allowed to come to the Y. M. C. A. 
building. 

So I jumped out of my cot and 
dressed in a hurry; then woke up 
another of our secretaries who was 
an Episcopal minister and who, I 


knew, had some packages of wafers 
for use in communion services. Se¬ 
curing from him one of the packages 
containing one hundred wafers, which 
I supposed would be sufficient, and 
also a large communion cup, I has¬ 
tened with another minister to the 
barracks. We found that the men 
each with his full overseas equipment, 
had been ordered out of the barracks, 
preparatory to leaving camp. So the 
service had to be held in the open, 
without any table, and like its pro¬ 
totype the Passover, it was to be 
eaten in haste, with loins girded and 
shoes on feet and staves (or rather 
guns) in hand, as Exodus 12:11 de¬ 
scribes. 

It was a thrilling sight to see those 
hundreds of splendid young Ameri¬ 
can soldiers, drawn up in the clear 
light of a brilliant full moon. At 
their officers’ command they quickly 
gathered about us in a big circle. I 
tried to make clear to them that their 
participation in the service was en¬ 
tirely voluntary, and that any who 
preferred the Roman Catholic form 
of its administration would have the 
opportunity of receiving it thus im¬ 
mediately after our service, when a 
priest would celebrate mass. Ap¬ 
parently, the great majority were 
Protestants, or at least preferred our 
form of service, for when the invita¬ 
tion to take the bread and the cup 
was extended in Jesus’ name to all 
who love him, believed in him as 
their Saviour and purposed to obey 
him as their Lord, at once they 
formed two long lines which filed past 
us on either side. Following the cus¬ 
tom which chaplains have found most 
convenient and expeditious when con¬ 
ducting such services in the field, we 
dipped the wafers in the cup and gave 
to each man, thus administering the 
bread and wine together, until it be¬ 
came evident that we would soon 
exhaust our supply, so great was 



BROKEN THINGS 


217 


the number of those who wished to 
participate. So we soon began break¬ 
ing each wafer in two or three parts 
and giving each man a part, until all 
the wafers were taken, and still the 
men came. To fifty or sixty more 
we could simply pass the cup, and 
have each man taste of the emblem of 
Jesus’ life laid down. 

Thus several hundred men in all, 
with bared heads, quietly and rev¬ 
erently partook of the holy feast and 
returned to their places in the ranks. 
Then we all joined in a simple prayer 
of thanksgiving to God for his un¬ 
speakable gift of love to men. After 
the benediction, a number stepped for¬ 
ward to express their gratitude or 
to ask for special prayers for them¬ 
selves or their loved ones. One lad 
who held on to my hand a bit longer 
than the others, said with a tremor 
in his voice, “After this, it’s differ¬ 
ent.” A little later, the ordered tread 
of heavy shoes upon the concrete 
road told of the departure of those 
present-day Crusaders, ready in the 
power and in the spirit of their divine 
Captain to lay down life itself for 
others’ sake.— Rev. Minot C. Morgan, 
D.D. 

897. Friends Forever. 

To eat and drink with an Oriental 
was significant of mutual love and 
confidence. When invited to come it 
was felt to be an insult to the host 
if a refusal was given. Christ by 
the sacramental feast invites his 
friends to come and sup with him. 
He gave his parting words at that 
feast, and they are on record for us 
to read before we, too, “Take, eat.” 

898. A Betrayer Denied. 

I went to West Point not long ago, 
and we had an evening meeting in 
the old chapel. As we passed under 
the rear gallery to go out, one of the 
students stopped and said, “I wish 
you would look at that shield on the 


wall there; that is the most striking 
thing at the academy to me.” I 
looked at the wall; all around there 
were marble shields set in the wall, 
and on each shield was the name of 
one of our Revolutionary generals. 
Then I looked up at the particular 
shield to which attention had been 
called, and that shield was blank. 
It was there in form just as the 
others, but with no name on it; simply 
the words Major-General, and the 
date of the unnamed general’s birth. 
“What does it mean?” I asked. 
“Well,” said the cadet, “that is the 
shield for Benedict Arnold. There is 
a shield for every Revolutionary 
general, and one for him too, but the 
nation would not cut his name on it 
nor the date of his death. He denied 
his country; his country has denied 
him.” 

Let us be careful that we deny not 
Christ. Peter said: “I know not 
the man.” By our neglect of the 
Lord’s Supper, or by one never going 
to the supper we may deny Christ.— 
H. 

899. Broken Things. 

“Take, eat: this is my body which 
is broken for you.” How often we 
have heard these beautiful words at 
the communion of the Lord’s Supper, 
where we have offered the sacrifices 
of a broken heart and a contrite 
spirit! Is there not a blessing in 
broken things? We would keep them 
whole for our selfish enjoyment; but 
love flows forth from hearts that 
are broken and our Lord’s love finds 
entrance into the riven side, enrich¬ 
ing the soul with its infinite treasure. 

Unbroken alabaster boxes are 
valueless, as many unbrushed flowers 
are odorless. 

Broken earthly hopes make room 
for heavenly riches. Breaking the 
marble makes the statuary beautiful; 
breaking the grain gives bread to 
the hungry; breaking the rocks opens 



218 


COMMUNION: KEEP COMING 


the way to gold and precious stones; 
breaking the earth gives oil and coal 
for commerce and comfort. So the 
breaking of the body of Jesus on 
Calvary gives the Bread of Life to 
famishing millions. “He that eateth 
of Me shall live by Me.” 

To become like our Saviour, we 
break the alabaster boxes of loving 
sacrifice for others, scattering the 
fragrance of devotion everywhere. 
The gifts of a little child or of a 
poor widow are as precious to Christ 
as the offerings of the rich and the 
great.— Rev. R. W. Caswell, D.D. 

900. This Do in Remembrance. 

Memory may be called the library 
of the mind, where thoughts are 
stored; the phonograph of the soul, 
where voices are echoed, or the 
photograph of the heart, where loves, 
friendships are pictured, to adorn 
forever the gallery of the soul. What 
a contrast between a loving memory 
of the true, the beautiful and the 
good, and the memory of revenge, 
hate, malice and lust! 

Think of turning the portrait of 
Christ to the wall of forgetfulness, 
as well as those of our most faithful 
and dearest friends ! Think of trying 
to forget home, church, country and 
God, so as to keep more vivid the 
scenes of revelry and debauchery! 

Memory is said to be “the only 
Paradise from which we cannot be 
turned out.” It is richer than vaults 
of gold, more lasting than honors, 
titles or treasures of the world. But 
it is a monitor as well as a recorder. 
“Son, remember,” is the silver bell of 
conscience, warning the soul to re¬ 
member his Creator, and not to for¬ 
get those dearer to him than life. 

A widowed father gave nearly all 
his earnings for the musical educa¬ 
tion of his daughter. After ten years 
of his sacrifice and loneliness, she 
returned from Europe to thrill with 
her songs the great audiences that 


greeted her. But she refused to 
recognize her humble father in his 
lowly and penniless condition. Such 
ingratitude and forgetfulness seem un¬ 
believable. But it is only a sample of 
the greater sin of forgetting the 
words and person of the world’s 
Saviour and Friend, who gave us 
richly all things to enjoy—life, love, 
happiness and heaven. Forgetting 
him and his Book is the monstrous 
sin of men.— Rev. E. W. Caswell, 
D.D. 

901. Communion: Keep Coming. 

The heathen refresh their loyalty to 
their gods. Do you know of the Hin¬ 
du red mark of the god? A little 
Bengali girl was presiding one night 
at a Junior Christian Endeavor meet¬ 
ing in Calcutta, India, says Rev. Her¬ 
bert Halliwell, former Christian En¬ 
deavor secretary in that country. She 
was twelve years old. At the close 
of the meeting a man drove up in a 
carriage and took her away. It was 
her wedding-day, and this was her 
husband. He was fi/fty, she was 
twelve. 

After that, morning by morning, he 
would take her to the Hindu temple 
and have the red mark of the god 
painted afresh on her forehead. In 
her heart she loved Christ, and that 
love remained. 

If it is necessary to have the red 
mark of a god freshened up every 
day, how much more necessary is it 
to freshen in our hearts our devo¬ 
tion to our Saviour! As the heathen 
worshiper seeks paint for the brow, 
let us seek the mark of God for the 
soul. That mark is love, charity, 
gentleness, service. By these shall 
men know that we are His disciples. 

Everywhere around us in noise and 
bustle and selfishness we see the 
marks of man. How good it is to 
recognize the mark of God! And in 
the Communion service is a time when 
we make that recognition. Let us 



CLOSED-DOOR COMMUNION 


219 


come to this Lord’s table. Let us 
keep coming, prolonging our love 
and loyalty and consecration. 

902. Communion Continued. 

Like those with disciples on the way 
to Emmaus, when we have the Sav¬ 
iour’s company for a little while we 
will not be contented until we have 
more of it. Some liquors men drink 
increase thirst. Never is the Chris¬ 
tian tired of Christ’s company. Love’s 
logic is always ready with a plea, 
“Abide with us, for it is toward even¬ 
ing.” “They constrained Him.” The 
suggestion comes that if we would 
keep Christ with us we must constrain 
Him. Christ will not intrude where 
He is not wanted. How can we keep 
Him with us? First, allowing no 
rivals in your heart. Christ will never 
tarry in a divided heart. Then, re¬ 
tain no darling sin. And make your 
heart a fit temple for Christ’s in¬ 
dwelling. Out with the money chang¬ 
ers and all unholy traffic. And give 
Him goodly entertainment, suitable 
for such a Guest.— H. 

903. Closed-Door Communion. 

“When the doors were shut—Jesus 
came.” When the disciples locked 
the doors to prevent interruption, 
Christ knew that he was sure of a 
welcome. He had been waiting for 
this opportunity to manifest himself 
unto them. He could not speak to 
his friends in the presence of his 
enemies. He could not get their ear 
on account of the din and confusion 
that came through the open doors. 
Have you eves tried to carry on a 
conversation over the telephone in a 
room full of uproar? Then you 
know why “Jesus came, when the 
doors were shut.” 

Closing the door to the world is 
opening the door to the Master. He 
is always passing by those doors that 
are wide-open to all the frivolity and 
vanity of men; but whenever He 


finds the door shut to these things*. 
He seeks admittance. He knows that 
there is room for Him on the other 
side of the closed door. 

Do not be afraid of shutting the 
door; it is the best invitation for 
the Master to enter. “Enter into thy 
closet and shut the door,” and He 
will see that His presence is desired. 
In the busy modern world, with its 
multiplicity of interests, we must find 
time to be alone with the Master. 
When the doors are shut, Jesus still 
comes! And this feast of the Lord’s 
Supper is a time of closed-door com¬ 
munion. He comes and sups with 
us when we shut the world out in 
an attitude of attention. 

904. Live for the Unseen Saviour. 

It is to be feared that the majority 
of professing Christians fail to ap¬ 
preciate all the joy or blessedness of 
sweet communion with Jesus. I have 
heard of a young girl whose growth 
in Christian character was very 
marked. No one seemed to under¬ 
stand the secret of it. It was noticed 
by an intimate friend that she wore 
a golden locket which she seemed to 
prize very highly. One day this 
friend was sitting with her by the 
seaside. In the course of an affec¬ 
tionate conversation the friend asked 
if she might look into the locket. 
Being urged, the girl consented. The 
friend opened it, and found these 
words: “Whom having not seen I 
love.” 

Here was the secret of her beauti¬ 
ful life. She had come under the 
transforming power of the love of 
Christ. She had a true friend. There 
was One who loved her. There was 
One she loved. The purity of that 
daily communion and fellowship im¬ 
pelled her to struggle against sin 
and cultivate all that was pure and 
good—all that was pleasing to her 
unseen Friend. 



220 


THE SUPPER A PROPHECY 


At this communion service let us 
cherish and cultivate this love for 
an unseen Saviour.— H. 

905. Lord’s Supper a Phophecy. 

The Lord’s Supper is a prophecy of 
Christ’s second coming, of the perfect 
triumph of his kingdom, for we are 
to celebrate it till he comes. It con¬ 
tains a hope and a promise of victory 
and heaven. Our last view of Christ 
in the Gospels is not of death, but 
of an ever-living Saviour who once 
was dead, but now lives for ever¬ 
more. It is the morning star. It is 
like the music of the unseen High¬ 
land regiment coming to relieve the 
siege of Lucknow. 

The Holy Grail in legend is the cup 
out of which Jesus drank wine at the 
last supper with his disciples. 

“If a man 

Could touch or see it, he was healed at 
once, 

By faith, of all his ills. But then the 
times 

Grew to such evil that the holy cup 
Was caught away to heaven, and disap¬ 
peared.” 

— Tennyson. 

So it will ever be if the church 
forget its meaning of fellowship.— 
Rev. P. N. Peloubet, D.D. 

906. Value of Communion. 

The Mohammedans used to bring 
so much incense into the Mosque of 
Omar at Jerusalem that any one going 
from it carried everywhere the sweet 
odor, and men could tell where he 
had been. So men will know where 
we have been, if we spend much time 
alone with God. Let us not neglect 
the coming to the Lord’s Table. Let 
us commune with Him. It will prove 
a blessing in our lives, and it will 
hd^p us to prove a blessing to others. 
—H. 

907. Christ Is Loved. 

How well this ordinance is adapted 
to us. Suppose the early Christians 
had taken up a collection and, on the 
Mount of Olives or on the banks of 


the Jordon, had erected a monument 
of marble or of granite, bearing the 
inscription: “Sacred to the memory 
of Jesus of Nazareth.” It might 
have not crumbled through all these 
centuries, but such a monument could 
not have served the purposes of 
this institution. Such a monument 
would have said Jesus was loved by 
the early Christians; not that he 
is loved now by us. 

It is said that every steamboat pass¬ 
ing down the Potomac pauses oppo¬ 
site the tomb of Washington and the 
bell tolls slowly and solemnly as if 
Washington had died but yesterday. 
This says that Washington is loved 
and not merely was loved. So in this 
ordinance we commemorate the death 
of Christ and at each communion 
show to the world that the Redeemer 
is loved. 

908. Communion Sunday. 

Archimaedes wanted a fulcrum on 
which to place his lever, and then he 
said he could move the world. 
Calvary is the fulcrum, and the cross 
of Christ is the lever; by that power 
all nations shall yet be lifted. The 
Preparatory Service, Communion 
Sunday and the celebration of the 
Lord’s Supper are to bring freshly 
to mind the meaning of the cross 
and to awaken anew in all disciples 
a love for and consecration to Christ 
and to his work for the world.— H. 

909. Cleansing Away the Moss. 

No one has lived the inner life 
without seasons of early passions 
when the romance of Jesus has cap¬ 
tured the soul, without experiencing 
seasons of later declension when the 
greenery of spring grew gray in the 
city dust. It is in such hours of 
coldness and weariness we ought to 
reinforce our souls with the sacrament 
of the! bread and wine. As one 
makes a journey to some country kirk- 
yard where the dust of his departed 



A COMMUNION IN FRANCE 


221 


is lying, and cleanses away the moss 
that has filled up the letters of his 
mother’s name, so do we in the holy 
communion again assure ourselves of 
love so amazing that it passes knowl¬ 
edge, but so utterly divine that it 
must be true .—Ian Maclaren. 

910. The Spreading Tree. 

There is the story of the king many 
of whose subjects rebelled against 
him. He might have crushed them, 
but he was a magnanimous monarch, 
who preferred to win them. So he 
appointed an envoy to confer with 
them, offering amnesty to such as 
conformed to reasonable require¬ 
ments, and appointed a day and a 
place for them to come to him, re¬ 
late the story of their wrongs as they 
conceived them, promising that if 
their complaints were well founded 
their wrongs should be redressed. 
The meeting-place was at a distance 
from the king’s palace and under the 
spreading branches of an ancient oak. 
The rebels came and were received 
by the king himself. They stated 
their grievances, which the king him¬ 
self guaranteed should be redressed; 
and each rebel, putting his hands be¬ 
tween the king’s hands, swore to be 
his faithful man thereafter. 

The parallel is not exact. We have 
no complaints against God. He has 
not wronged us nor oppressed us. 
Yet we are rebels, and he invites us 
to return and be reconciled to him. 
Now what is the Cross? The Cross 
is the spreading tree under which the 
king of heaven meets his rebel sub¬ 
jects and receives them with open 
arms and pitying heart.— Rev. Charles 
C. Albertson, D.D. 

911. Make Christ Welcome. 

Cleopatra entertained Mark Antony 
with a feast beyond price. Pearls 
were melted in the wine, and every 
lavish expenditure was made to im¬ 
press him with her welcome. Such is 


not what Christ asks of us, but at 
the Holy Supper we should receive 
Him joyfully, and perform the duties 
that will invite His approval. Fur¬ 
thermore, do not fail to trust Him. 
Keep no secrets from Him. Confess 
your faults to Him. Assert your love 
for Him and let Him know that you 
accept His. 

What are some of the special 
blessings of having Him with us ? 
One is companionship. We cannot 
feel alone when He is with us. “I 
will fear no evil, for Thou are with 
me.” Another is quickening of love. 
Our hearts will burn within us as He 
talks with us by the way. Let us con¬ 
strain Him to tarry.— H. 

912. A Communion in France. 

Near Brest, where thousands of 
soldiers and other war workers have 
been quartered for short intervals 
we held in a hospital one of the most 
memorable of many interesting serv¬ 
ices in France. In the center of the 
stage, in a bronze German war relic, 
the only vase available, on a little 
collapsible hospital stand, the only 
sort of table we could secure, there 
was a gorgeous bunch of red roses, 
given to one of our Red Cross work¬ 
ers and loaned by her. In front of 
this, covered with white handker¬ 
chiefs, such as the Red Cross supplies 
to the doughboys on another hospital 
stand were the communion elements. 
The paten was a white enameled ware 
plate from the Red Cross kitchen; 
the individual glass cups, of which 
there were only forty, so that several 
communicants had to share in each, 
were some that had been used on the 
battlefield. There was no grape juice 
procurable so “vin rouge” had to an¬ 
swer. The tray, whose imperfections 
were covered with a towel, was the 
tin lid of a large kitchen marmite. 
All very crude, was it not? But for 
that very reason all the more im¬ 
pressive. Chaplain Allgood con- 



222 


LOOKING TOWARD REUNION 


ducted the regular morning service 
and then entrusted to me the great 
privilege of administering the com¬ 
munion. I passed the elements myself 
to about 125 officers, nurses, and en¬ 
listed men, brought from all parts 
of our country, many of them bear¬ 
ing the honorable scars of battle, some 
of them convalescents just able to 
creep out of their wards to keep the 
memory of their Lord. Nothing that 
I have ever done, it seemed to me, 
went down deeper into my soul than 
to give to these splendid, heroic, mod¬ 
est Christian young men and women 
the symbols of that faith which they 
have been keeping pure amid the din 
of battle and the confusion of camps. 
— Rev. J. D. Burrell, D.D. 

913. Looking Toward Reunion. 

The promise of paradise—heaven— 
is one of the strongest incentives 
known to man. Mrs. Bottome says, 
“When I was a girl, my mother used 
to say, ‘Don’t let your father find 
you away when he comes home; he 
likes to see you.’ What a lovely thing 
it would be if we simply believed 
that our Father in heaven would miss 
us if we did not get home; for you 
know heaven is home.” 

We are absent from Christ’s visible 
presence now, as also from our loved 
ones gone before. But let us live to 
meet them in the heavenly home. 

914. Spiritual Meditation. 

The lack of spiritual meditation 
is one of the religious lacks of our 
time. The Lord’s Supper observed 
is a help toward overcoming this lack. 
There are reasons for this lack. One 
is the tremendous ruch and hurry of 
our modern life. Much of the super¬ 


ficial piety anl lack of joy we see is 
not because Christians no not know 
and feel, but because they do not think. 
We read our Bibles, catch up a re¬ 
ligious paper now and then, listen to 
sermons, hear addresses; we may 
even be thrilled with emotion for a 
moment, but how few of us ever sit 
down and spend an hour in earnest 
thinking on what we hear.— H. 

915. His Forgiving Love. 

A fanatic who tried to assassinate 
King Humbert of Italy with a dag¬ 
ger on the end of a banner-pole that 
he carried in a procession was not 
only pardoned by the king, but his 
mother, who was destitute, was pro¬ 
vided for from the royal purse. At 
another time an anarchist drove a 
stiletto into the carriage cushions, in 
an attempt to stab the king. Hum¬ 
bert drove the assailant off with his 
sword, and then calmly asked, “My 
wretched man, what can I do to help 
you?” What an illustration this af¬ 
fords of Jesus’ forgiving love! “Fa¬ 
ther forgive them, they know not 
what they do .”—Luke 23 : 34 . 

916. Her Need. 

A lady was lying dangerously ill 
in the hospital. A clergyman had 
been sent for, that she might receive 
the sacrament at his hands. He came, 
and administered the rite, but it failed 
to give the desired relief. After the 
minister had left the sufferer turned 
to the occupant of the bed nearest 
her own and said in tones of sadness, 
“I thought it would have done me 
more good.” Her fellow-sufferer, an 
earnest Christian lady, quietly replied, 
“Ah! you don’t want it, you want 
Him.” 





CROWN OF THORNS STILL LIVING 


22 3 


XIII. EASTER. 

(Day of Christ’s Resurrection.) 


917. Symbol of Resurrection. 

An army chaplain tells of having 
bivouacked with his brigade upon an 
open field with nothing over him but 
the cold, cloudy sky. On arising the 
next morning, all over that field were 
little mounds like new-made graves, 
each covered with a drapery of snow 
which had fallen two or three inches 
during the night and covered each 
soldier as with the winding sheet of 
death. While he was gazing upon 
the strange spectacle, here and there 
a man began to stir, arise, shake him¬ 
self and stand in momentary amaze¬ 
ment at the sight. It was a beautifufl 
symbol of the resurrection. 

918. The Prize Design. 

In a certain seminary a prize was of¬ 
fered for the best design for an 
Easter card. All labored hard ex¬ 
cept one, who seemed kept from try¬ 
ing by a lingering illness. She felt 
the disappointment keenly. On a 
flower-st md in her room stood a rose¬ 
bush, whose flowers were gone and 
leaves withering, and by its side a 
beautiful lily just opening. She could 
think of nothing but the awarding 
of the prize. Pointing to the ugly 
caterpillar on the rose-bush, she 
said, “That is just like me.” Her 
friend replied, “Out of such cater¬ 
pillars, butterflies are born.” Soon 
after, lo! on the lily was a beautiful 
butterfly, which had left the skeleton 
of the caterpillar in the rose-pot. 
The sufferer cried out, “I have got 
the design for my picture.” And lo! 
when the award of prizes was made, 
her picture of the butterfly on the 
lily gained the prize. Out of her 
sorrows she rose to a new life. 


919. Crown of Thorns Still Living. 

An ancient legend tells how a monk 
in days long gone by found the crown 
of thorns which had encircled the 
Saviour’s brow. He laid it on the 
altar in the chapel on Good Friday, 
and he and his flock looked with rever¬ 
ent awe on the dreadful relic, so rug¬ 
ged, so cruel, with its awful stains of 
blood. Very clearly on Easter morn¬ 
ing, the monk came to the church to 
remove the thorn-crown, which would 
be so strangely out of harmony with 
the bright thoughts of Easter Day. 
When he opened the door he found the 
chapel filled with a wondrous perfume 
The early sunlight, shining through 
the eastern window, fell upon the 
altar. There the monk saw the 
crown of thorns still living, but it 
had burst into roses of rarest loveli¬ 
ness and sweetest fragrance. 

920. Possibility of Immortality. 

A physician once told me of a 
unique experience of his. He was 
performing a slight operation that 
required the administration of an 
anaesthetic, but did not seem to him 
to demand the presence of a second 
doctor. The operation was well ad¬ 
vanced when he discovered symptoms 
of collapse. Immediately he ex¬ 
amined the pulse and found that the 
heart had stopped. He put his ear 
upon the patient’s chest, and could 
detect no possible sign of breathing. 

The man to all appearances was 
dead; but believing there was at least 
a possibility of recalling life, he in¬ 
stantly brought into service every 
known means and method of resusci¬ 
tation, and after the lapse of a half 
hour, he had the immense satisfaction 
of seeing the patient’s lips slightly 
twitch and the heart give evidence 




224 


THERE IS NO DEATH 


of the faintest flutter; an hour more, 
and life was fully restored. Now if 
life could leave the body for a few 
minutes and return, is it inconceiv¬ 
able that the two might be separated 
for centuries and then be reunited? 
And if a physician by the use of 
material aids and agencies could re¬ 
suscitate life, is it difficult to believe 
that the Great Physician, who has 
all power in heaven and on earth, can 
bring life back into the human body 
at the resurrection? There can be no 
question—even in the minds of the 
most skeptical—as to the possibility of 
immortality .—John Balcolm Shaw, 
D.D. 

921. Asleep, Not Dead. 

At the funeral of Dr. A. J. Gordon 
in Boston, Dr. A. T. Pierson said that 
the telegram announcing his death 
came at three o’clock in the morning, 
and, being unable to sleep, he read the 
New Testament through from Mat¬ 
thew to Revelation to see what it said 
about death. And he noticed that 
after the resurrection of Jesus the 
apostles seldom used the word death 
to express the close of a Christian’s 
life; but “sleep,” “at home in the 
Lord,” or “depart,” “loose the moor¬ 
ings,” as of a vessel about to set out 
on the sea. What a comfort to the 
Christian to think of the loved ones as 
being “Asleep in Christ,” instead of 
having ceased to be !—Harry H. 
Crawford. 

922. There Is No Death. 

Of a good woman it was said: 

“She did not die; 

She was too near an angel. 

One morning near break of day 

Hand in hand with some unseen evangel 

She went away.” 

Of Enoch it was said: “Enoch 
walked with God, and he was not, for 
God took him.” Of the Christian’s 
death the words apply: “Absent from 
the body present with the Lord.” 


And that is the message every Easter 
morning comes to tell us and make 
real to us.— H. 

923. Go and Tell. 

What is our Easter duty? It is to 
“go quickly and tell.” In one of 
his books S. D. Gordon pictures Ga¬ 
briel as asking Christ when he 
reached heaven, what recognition the 
world had given of his divine suffer¬ 
ing for its sake. Christ replies that 
only a few in Palestine know of it. 
Gabriel feels that more ought to 
know—that the whole world ought 
to know—and he asks, “What is your 
plan, Master, for telling them of it?” 
Jesus is supposed to reply, “I have 
asked Peter, and James, and John, 
and Andrew, and a few others, to 
make it the business of their lives 
to tell others, and those others others, 
until the last man in the farthest 
circle has heard the story and has 
felt the power of it.” “But suppose 
they do not tell others—what then?” 
Gabriel asks. And Jesus answers, 
quietly, “Gabriel, I haven’t made any 
other plans. I’m counting on them.” 
He is counting on us to tefll others. 
And that is our Easter lesson of duty. 
He is counting on us to tell others 
the good news of his birth and life 
and death and resurrection. Go 
quickly, and tell. Tell. Tell again 
and again. Keep on telling the bles¬ 
sed story.— H. 

924. The Open Door. 

A little girl once visited her aunt, 
who was a servant at Windsor Castle 
in England. One evening the little 
girl was taken through the castle. 
At one place she was told to 
stand very quietly in a corner and 
wait. Just opposite where she stood 
was a large door. Suddenly the door 
opened and she looked in and saw the 
queen and great noblemen and ladies, 
with their magnificent dresses all 



GOSPEL OF THE RESURRECTION 


22 $ 


sparkling with jewels. The light was 
brilliant, the music delightful. Then 
the door closed. 

That is what the risen Christ did 
for us. He opened the door of heaven 
for us as he went in, and, after all, 
that is one of the best evidences we 
have that we shall ourselves be among 
the nobility of heaven one day. Jesus 
did not shut the door when he entered 
heaven. He said, “I am the door.”— 
Sunday-School Advocate. 

925. The Tunnel Passed. 

The late “Ian Maclaren” used to be 
fond of relating the following beauti¬ 
ful little story, as serving to allay the 
needless fears of God’s people when 
they entered the valley of the shadow 
of death. There was a dear old 
Scotch lady who wanted badly to go 
to the city of Edinburgh. But for 
years she could not be persuaded to 
take the railway journey, because of 
her great dread of the tunnel through 
which she would have to pass. One 
day, however, circumstances arose 
which compelled her to take the train 
for Edinburgh. For a while her fears 
were great, and her agitation in¬ 
creased as the train on its journey 
drew near to the dreaded tunnel. 
But before the tunnel was actually 
reached the old lady, worn out with 
excitement, dropped peacefully off 
to sleep, and when she awoke it was 
to gladly discover that the tunnel had 
been passed. The resurrection hope 
takes the sting out of death.— H. 

926. Gospel of the Resurrection. 

A Hindu fakir, with matted hair 
and ash-besmeared body, found the 
leaves of a torn book which someone 
had tossed away. It was part of the 
New Testament. He smoothed out 
the crumpled pages and read the 
words, which brought strange 
thoughts. Then he set out to seek for 
someone who obeyed the book. He 
found an Englishman who confessed 
15 


that he obeyed it. The fakir noticed 
that the Englishman wore a black 
band on his arm, and concluded that 
this was the distinctive sign of a 
Christian, so he put a black band on 
his own arm. When people asked who 
he was, he pointed to the band and 
toEd them. Eater the fakir wandered 
for the first time into a church, and 
listened to a Christian preacher. At 
the close he announced that he, too, 
was a follower of this way, and 
pointed to the band as a proof. They 
explained that it was an English sign 
of the death of some loved one. The 
fakir thought for a moment; then 
he answered: “But I read in the 
book that my Loved One has died, 
so I shall wear it in memory of him.” 
Before long, however, he grasped the 
gospel of Resurrection, and when he 
realized that his Loved One was alive 
for evermore, a great joy filled his 
heart .—Missionary Review of the 
World. 

927. Found Angels There. 

The seekers at the tomb found angels 
there. Easter means this to us—an¬ 
gels; life, not death; joy, not sorrow 
and tears. We can look at the tomb, 
of course, with hearts so sad that we 
see nothing but gloom and death; 
but, thank God, we can look at the 
tomb with eyes of faith, and see an¬ 
gels, and more than angels—the lost 
one. Pray for faith in God regarding 
immortality, that no doubts may cloud 
the mind or chill the heart.— Rev. 
R. P. Anderson. 

928. A Safe Investment. 

A gentleman once said to a friend, 
“Why don’t you buy that stock for 
an investment ?” “Why,” he an¬ 
swered, “that stock has been dead for 
five years; I’m not putting my money 
in dead stock.” Millions of men are 
putting their lives into dead objects; 
but Jesus Christ is alive, the only safe 
investment for our lives. 



226 


SHAPE LIFE EOR BEYOND 


929. Shape Life for Beyond. 

Through Jesus’ resurrection our 
own is assured. In Christ we see 
through death. Death becomes trans¬ 
parent. We gaze upon the other side. 
Death is not a terminus; it is a 
thoroughfare. Life does not finish 
in endless night; it goes forward to 
bright morning and endless day. 
What manner of man ought I, then, 
to be? How shall I plan my life? 
How shall I build? Boats that are 
intended for small, land-locked waters 
are of one build. Liners that are 
purposed for the great deep are of 
quite another build. Lives that are 
built for threescore years and ten are 
of one design; lives that are built 
for eternity are of quite another de¬ 
sign. I must build for the ocean, 
and not for the river; not for the 
creek, but for the infinite. I must 
therefore do my daily duty as a child 
of the Eternal. My purposes must 
be such that I can carry them through 
the narrow straits of death into the 
“endless life” beyond. “If ye then be 
risen with Christ,” shape your lives 
for the beyond.— J. H. Jovuett, DD . 

930. Man Is a Migrant. 

These birds that are blown north¬ 
ward on the first breath of spring 
do not belong here. They are mi¬ 
grants and by and by will depart for 
a sunnier clime. Man is a migrant in 
this world. He has on him the marks 
of another world. Man has an in¬ 
stinct of immortality and he trusts 
it. Nature never disappoints deep 
instincts but provides their appropri¬ 
ate means of satisfaction, and we 
cannot believe this yearning for im¬ 
mortality is an unnatural and cruel 
exception. “O God, thou hast made us 
for thyself, and we cannot rest until 
we rest in thee.” Man is a migrant 
to a sunnier clime. 


931. Easter Banishes Fear. 

A little child played in a large and 
beautiful garden with sunny lawns; 
but there was one part of it, a long 
and winding path overshadowed by 
trees, down which he never ventured; 
indeed he dreaded to go near it, be¬ 
cause a foolish nurse had told him 
that ogres and hobgoblins dwelt with¬ 
in its darksome gloom. At last his 
eldest brother heard of this fear, and 
after playing one day with him, took 
him to the entrance of the grove, 
and leaving him there terror-stricken, 
went singing throughout its length, 
then returning and taking the little 
fellow’s hand, they went through it 
together. And from that moment the 
fear had fled. So Jesus, having 
passed through the valley of death, 
gives courage to his people. “Yea, 
though I walk through the valley of 
the shadow of death, I will fear 
no evil; for Thou art with me. 

932. The Risen Christ. 

A French painter has recently made 
a sensation in Paris by the manner 
of his work. He fitted up a cab for 
a studio, and drove about the streets, 
stopping here and there to make 
sketches of places and things he saw. 
People did not see him shut up in his 
cab, looking out upon them through 
his little window, and taking his pic¬ 
tures of the nooks and corners and 
byways of Parisian life. He thus 
caught all manner of scenes and in¬ 
cidents in the city’s hidden ways. 
He then transferred his sketches to 
canvas, and put Christ everywhere 
among them. When the people saw 
his work, they were startled, for they 
saw themselves in their everyday life, 
in all their follies and frivolities, and 
always Christ in the midst—every 
kind of actual life on the canvas, and 
in the heart of it all—the Christ. 
Suppose this painter were to visit 
our town this year, and photograph 
us in all the events of our home life, 



THE WAY ACROSS 


227 


our church life, our civic life, what 
kind of pictures would he see? What¬ 
ever the kind, Jesus will surely be 
“in the midst” of every event of the 
day. 

933. The Way Across. 

She was only a tiny girl, unused to 
traveling, and it happened that in the 
course of the day her train was 
obliged to cross two branches of a 
river and several wide streams. The 
water seen in advance always 
awakened doubts and fears in the child. 
She did not understand how it could 
safely be crossed. As they drew near 
the river, however, a bridge appeared, 
and furnished a way over. Two or 
three times the same thing happened, 
and finally the child leaned back with 
a long breath of relief and confidence. 
“Somebody has put bridges for us 
all the way!” she said in trusting 
content. That is how we find it in 
life, God has built bridges for us all 
the way. 

Easter is the way across. That is, 
Christ’s resurrection is the way across. 
Rest in the Easter message.— H . 

934. A Living Soul. 

The Christian can say “I have a 
body, but I am a soul.” Death takes 
the body, but there is nothing that 
can take the soul that is rooted and 
grounded in him who is the Resur¬ 
rection and the Life. Death is an 
incident, a happening, an adventure 
between the cradle and the grave. 
Charles Frohman, on the deck of the 
sinking Lusitania, said, “Why fear 
death? It is the best adventure of 
all.” Emily Dickenson said: “Death 
is the porter of my Father’s lodge, 
the hired man to let down the bars 
for the tired sheep to enter it, under 
the shephard’s care to the securest 
fold, their wanderings done, their 
bleatings at an end.” Job said: 
“There is but a step between me and 


death.” He could have said: “Death 
is but a step for me into life.” 

935. A Sign and Seal. 

Christ’s resurrection gives us a cer¬ 
tified Christianity, an accredited sal¬ 
vation. It is the pivotal fact of 
Christianity. The founders of other 
religions—Confucius, Zoroaster, Brah¬ 
ma, Mohammed—have died; but 
where is the evidence that they ever 
rose from the dead? It is the resur¬ 
rection of Jesus which is the abso¬ 
lutely unique fact of Christianity, the 
demonstration to the believer of its 
absolute certanity. 

936. They Do Not Die. 

The Indian Witness is authority for 
the story of two Korean women who 
stood watching a funeral procession 
on its way to the foreign cemetery. 
“What sight is this ?” asked one. 
“The burying of the good missionary’s 
little son,” answered the other, sor- 
rowfuly. “That is very, very sad.” 
replied the first sympathetically. In 
Korea a son is by far the most pre¬ 
cious of all possessions. “Yes, it is 
very sad; but not so bad for them 
as for us,” said the other. “They 
know something that makes them sure 
that they wiltl get their children back 
some day. We know nothing about 
how to get ours back again.” 

We do not get our children or any 
of our dear ones back to us here 
in the world; but we know that we 
shall go to them.— H. 

937. Reflected Light. 

“How do you know that Christ is 
risen?” someone asked an old fisher¬ 
man, whose faith in Jesus seemed very 
simple and sure. “Do you see those 
cottages near the cliff?” he replied. 
“Well, sometimes, when I am far 
out at sea, I know that the sun is 
risen by the reflection in those win¬ 
dows. How do I know that Christ 




228 


PLAN FOR ETERNITY 


is risen? Because I see his light re¬ 
flected from the faces of some of my 
fellows every day, and because I 
feel the light of his glory in my own 
life.” A reflector of Jesus! You 
and I may be that. His glory may 
shine through us. 

938. Facilis Descensus. 

A gentleman of"large means and 
atheistic beliefs, says the Scottish 
American, built a handsome mauso¬ 
leum for himself in the parish church¬ 
yard. It was a massive piece of 
masonry, and presented an aspect of 
considerable strength. One day the 
gentleman met one of the church 
elders coming out of the churchyard. 
“Weel,” said the owner of the mauso¬ 
leum, with an air of pride, “ye’ve 
been up seein', that erection o’ mine?” 
* ‘Deed I hae,” replied the elder. 
“It’ll tak a mon a’ hi time tae rise 
oot o’ yon on the day o’ judgment,” 
said the atheist, mockingly. “My 
mon,” said the elder, “dinna bother 
yer head aboot that. When that day 
comes, they’ll juist tak the bottom 
oot o’ yer concern and let ye slide 
doon.”— Youth’s Companion . 

939. Easter Life Gives Freedom. 

Did you ever watch the inflation of 
a balloon and note how, as the heat 
filled it, it struggled like a thing 
alive to free itself from the earth and 
soar heavenward "* And did you think 
how typical that was of the old, old 
battle between the flesh and spirit 
that mankind is fighting? And when 
the last cord that bound the balloon 
to the earth was untied, and it rose 
with victory stamped upon every fiber 
of the canvas, did you carry the an¬ 
alogy further and picture the domin¬ 
ion that the death of a Christian gains 
over all that is of the earth earthly 
and sinful? 


940. Resurrection. 

Among the Pyramids of Egypt, 
Lord Lindsay, the English traveler, 
came across a mummy, the inscrip¬ 
tion upon which proved to be two 
thousand years old. In examining the 
mummy after it was unwrapped, he 
found in one of its enclosed hands 
a small root. He took the little bulb 
from that dosed hand and planted 
it in a sunny soil, allowed the dew 
and rains of heaven to descend upon 
it, and in a few weeks, to his astonish¬ 
ment, the root burst forth and 
bloomed into a beautiful flower. 

941. Shall Never Die. 

When Rufus Choate, one of the 
greatest of New England’s able states¬ 
men, took ship for Europe in search 
of health, a friend said to him as 
he stepped on board the vessel, “You 
will be here a year hence;” thereby 
meaning that in a year’s time his 
health would be restored and he would 
return to his work. “Sir,” said the 
great lawyer, “I shall be here a 
hundred years hence, and a thousand 
years hence.” In a few days Rufus 
Choate was dead, having landed at 
Halifax unable to continue his voyage. 
“He that liveth and believeth in me 
shall never die.” 

942. Plan for Eternity. 

If every man’s life is a plan of 
God, then our life-plans ought to in¬ 
clude heaven. Jesus said: “I go to 
prepare a place for you. And if I 
go and prepare a place for you I will 
come again and receive you unto 
myself, that where I am there ye may 
be also.” Death is not death. It is 
going to be with Christ. 

Two little birds had a nest in the 
bushes in the back of the garden. 
Amy found the nest. It had four 
speckled eggs in it. One day, after 
she had been away for some time, 
she ran into the garden to take a 



DESTROYING THE SEEDS 


229 


peep at the speckled eggs. Instead 
of the beautiful eggs, there were only- 
broken, empty shells. “Oh!” she said, 
picking out the pieces, “the beautiful 
eggs are all spoiled and broken.” 
“No, Amy,” said her brother, “they 
are not spoiled; the best part of them 
has taken wings and flown away.” 
So it is in death; the body left be¬ 
hind is only an empty shell, while the 
soul, the better part, has taken wings 
and flown away. 

This is a simple and familiar little 
story; but it contains the exact truth. 
It tefls us again the fact that Easter 
is the first-fruits of a full harvest, 
and that harvest is life—life eternal, 
immortal.— H. 

943. Destroying the Seeds. 

A Persian fable says that the earth 
was created a great barren plain, 
without tree or plant. An angel was 
sent to scatter broadcast the choicest 
seeds on every spot. Satan, seeing 
the seeds on the ground, determined 
to destroy them. So he buried all 
the seeds in the soil, and summoned 
sun and rain to make them rot away. 
But while with malignant feeling 
of triumph he smiled on the ruin he 
had wrought, the seeds which had 
been buried away to rot germinated 
and sprang up, clothing all the earth 
with plants and flowers, and in beauty 
undreamed of before. And a voice 
from heaven said, “Thou fool, that 
which thou sowest is not quickened 
except it die.” The burial of Christ 
was thought by his enemies to be the 
end; but in truth the grave was 
but the necessary way to his final and 
glorious victory. 

944. The Call. 

Thomas Spurgeon tells us of an 
epitaph in a little English church-yard 
which lacks nothing in simplicity. 
The headstone over the little mound 
bears just these words: “Freddy!” 


—as if some one called,—and under¬ 
neath, “Yes, Father,”—as if someone 
answered. 

945- Jesus’ Epitaph. 

When we wander through a grave¬ 
yard and look at the tombstones, or 
go into the church and examine the 
old monuments, we see one heading 
to them all, “Here lies.” Then follows 
the name with the date of death, and 
perhaps some praise of the good 
qualities of the deceased. But how 
different is the epitaph on the tomb 
of Jesus! It is not written in gold 
nor cut in stone, it is spoken by the 
mouth of an angel; and it is the 
exact reverse of what is put on all 
other tombs: “He is not here.”— Rev. 
S. Baring Gould. 

946. Miracle of Spring. 

The miracle of Spring finds a re¬ 
sponse in the human heart. The 
renewal of life. The unfolding of 
its promise awakens the immortal 
hope. 

“Daffodil, lily, and crocus, 

They stir, they break from the sod. 

They are glad of the sun, and they open 
Their golden hearts to God. 

They, and the wild song families,— 

Wild flower, violet, May,— 

They rise from the long, long dark 
To the ecstasy of day. 

We, scattering troops and darkness, 

From out of the stars wind-blown 
To their way-side corners of space. 

This world that we call our own,— 

We, of the hedgerows of Time, 

We, too, shall divide the sod, 

Emerge to the light, and blossom, 

With our hearts held up to God.” 

— B. D. G. Roberts. 

947. Remember Life. 

The Bible is a book of life. The 
theme of the gospel is life. Chris¬ 
tianity is a religion of life. The 
teaching of its Divine Founder is not 
composed of scraps of midnight dark¬ 
ness but is patterned after the Eternal 
Dawn. The note of despair is never 



230 


DEATH IS COLONIZATION 


found in its hymnology, but always 
the ring of hope, the paean of victory 
and the song of triumph is uppermost. 
It is “Thanks be to God who hath 
given us the victory through our Lord 
and Saviour, Jesus Christ.” 

The Trappist Monks never spoke to 
each other save when they met face 
to face and then it was “Memento 
Mori” “Remember Death.” The Rus¬ 
sians have a better saying. Just as 
we greet each other on Christmas 
morning with a “Merry Christmas” 
they say to each other on Easter 
morn “He is risen” and the answer is 
“He is risen indeed .”—The Christian 
Herald. 

948. Jesus* Funeral Sermons. 

A good many years ago, when I 
was a young man, I used to spend the 
summers in Chicago, and when the 
ministers were gone away, they used 
to send me to attend funerals. One 
day I was called suddenly to attend a 
funeral. There were to be a great 
many business men not Christians 
there. I said, “This is my opportunity, 
I will give them a Christian sermon.” 
I tried to find one of Christ’s funeral 
sermons, and I found that he broke 
up every funeral he attended. The 
dead couldn’t stay dead where he was. 
—From D. h. Moody, in the Chris¬ 
tian Herald. 

949. Death is Colonization. 

There was once a famous cape re¬ 
puted to be the fatal barrier to the 
navigation of the ocean. Of all those 
whom the winds or the currents had 
drawn into its surrounding waters 
it was said that none had reappeared. 

A bold navigator determined to sur¬ 
mount the obstacle. He opened the 
route to the East Indies, acquired for 
his country the riches of the world, 
and changed the Cape of Storms into 
the Cape of Good Hope. So Christ 
has proved himself death’s conqueror 


and made the grave to be for us the 
gate of life. 

The Easter faith points us not to 
the graves in our cemeteries, but to 
the gates of heaven—those gates 
“Whose key Love keeps on that side 
and on this side Death.” As someone 
has beautifully said, “Death, under the 
Christian aspect, is but God’s method 
of colonization; the transition from 
this mother-country of our race to the 
fairer and newer world of our emi¬ 
gration.” 

950. Easter Incentive. 

“Where shall I go after I die?” 
asked a dying Hindu of the Brahmin 
priest to whom he had given money 
to pray for his salvation. 

The Brahmin priest replied, “You 
will first of all go into a holy quad¬ 
ruped.” 

“But,” said the Hindu, “where shall 
I go then?” 

“Then you will go into a singing 
bird.” 

“But,” said the poor man, “where 
then shall I go?” 

“Then,” said the priest, “you will 
go into a beautiful flower.” 

The man flung up his hands in 
agony and cried, “But where shall I 
go last of all?” 

Thank God, this Easter-time an¬ 
swers that question for us. Jesus died 
and rose again, and He is now pre¬ 
paring a home for us in heaven. Be¬ 
cause He lives we shall live also, and 
live with Him. 

One of the very strongest incentives 
to missions is the privilege of making 
this great truth known.— H. 

951. Heart Trouble. 

“He saw and believed.” 

A brilliant lawyer in New York 
City some years ago spoke to a promi¬ 
nent minister, asking if he really be¬ 
lieved that Christ rose from the dead. 



CARRYING OUT HIS POLICIES 


231 


The minister replied that he did, and 
asked the privilege of presenting the 
proof to the lawyer. The lawyer took 
the material offered in proof and 
studied it. He returned it to the min¬ 
ister and said, “I am convinced that 
Jesus really did rise from the dead. 
But—” he then added, “I am no nearer 
being a Christian than I was before. 
I thought the difficulty was with my 
head. I find that it is really with my 
heart.” 

952. Through the Vale. 

A chamois-hunter in Switzerland 
fell through a chasm in an ice-field 
and crept for a great distance along 
the passage formed by a stream be¬ 
neath the ice. At last he came to an 
end of the passage; but the water, he 
thought, must find an exit, so he 
boldly plunged into the frigid current, 
and was swept on through the dark¬ 
ness. In a few minutes he was carried 
out into the bright sunshine of the 
lovely Vale of Chamouni. That is 
the way a Christian dies. 

953. Easter Victory. 

A handsome newspaper picture, after 
the close of the war, showed Ameri¬ 
can veterans in Paris—on Bastille 
Day, when France and her Allies 
were celebrating their victory—march¬ 
ing under the Arch of Triumph, 
through which only victors may pass. 
What an inspiring, thrilling scene it 
must have been! 

But there is going to be another far 
more inspiring, thrilling scene some 
day. It is when a great gathering 
comes together in the presence of the 
Captain of our salvation, the great 
Victor of time and eternity, Christ 
Jesus, and these persons in his pres¬ 
ence will alf be victors also, having 
overcome through faith in their Cap¬ 
tain and his shed blood. For, “this 
is the victory that hath overcome the 
world, even our faith.” 


954. The Victorious Christ. 

An old verger in days before the 
Great War used to display to visitors 
the glories of Winchester Cathedral 
in the South of England. He was 
enthusiastic about its history, its 
beauty, its memories; but best of all 
he loved to stand upon the cathedral 
roof and tell the story of the way in 
which news of Wellington’s victory 
at Waterloo was brought to England. 
It came by sailing ship, he said, to 
the south coast and by semaphor was 
wig-waged overland toward London. 
In due course the semaphor on the 
roof of Winchester Cathedral began 
to spell the message off—W-e-1-1- 
i-n-g-t-o-n—d-e-f-e-a-t-e-d—and then 
the fog closed in, the semaphore no 
longer could be seen, and the sad 
news of the incomplete message went 
on toward London, plunging the coun¬ 
try into gloom, — “Wellington de¬ 
feated!” But, when the fog broke at 
last, the semaphore upon the top of 
Winchester Cathedral was still at 
work — W-e-l-l-i-n-g-t-o-n — d-e- 
f-e-a-t-e-d — t-h-e — e-n-e-m-y—and, 
all the more glorious for the preced¬ 
ing gloom, the wonderful news sped 
across the land and lifted up the 
spirits of the people into grateful joy 
—“Wellington defeated the enemy 1” 

So was the dreadful gloom of Cal¬ 
vary dispelled by the glorious victory 
of Easter Day! So what had seemed 
defeat was changed to triumph! From 
the wonder of that victory the Chris¬ 
tian Church arose in power; the good 
news of that victory is the deathless 
message of the Christian people; and 
when Christ shall have come to his 
own in the hearts of men, the prop¬ 
hecy of that glad Easter Day shall 
be fulfilled.— Rev. H. B. Fosdick. 

955. Carrying Out His Policies. 

A great manufacturing concern in 
England has just within its gates a 
panel upon which the names of the 
heads of the concern are painted. 



A PLEDGE AND PATTERN 


Opposite each is a movable slide which 
tells the visitor whether that member 
of the firm is “in” or “out.” 

The name of the founder of the 
concern stands first, and the slide has 
read “out” since 1876, when he passed 
away. 

It would seem that to the remaining 
members of the firm the founder is 
merely “out.” His policies are still 
adhered to, he still governs, though 
the world knows him no more. 

A few years ago a business man 
approached the son of a man who had 
recently died, came to him hoping to 
be able to carry through with the 
son a questionable deal which the 
father had refused to have anything 
to do with. He painted in glowing 
terms the financial returns which he 
affirmed would come to both of them. 

“My dear sir,” replied the young 
man, “my father still runs this busi¬ 
ness, I cannot swerve from his poli¬ 
cies.” 

Christ has not gone from the world. 
He is alive. He is the risen Christ. 
Are we carrying out his policies? 

956. The Christian’s View of 

Death. 

“I am not tired of my work, neither 
am I tired of the world; yet, when 
Christ calls me home, I shall go with 
the gladness of a boy bounding away 
from school,” said the consecrated 
Judson, who gave his life to advance 
the cause of missions. 

Easter is the natural complement of 
Good Friday and of Christmas. With¬ 
out Easter neither of these other dates 
would mean much to the Church. 
Hence Constantine decreed that 
Easter should be the first day of the 
year. This reckoning lingered in 
France until 1565, when January 1st 
finally took its place. 

957. The Proof of Immortality. 

The resurrection of Jesus is the 
proof of immortal life beyong the 


grave, that death does not end all, but 
the soul lives after the body dies. 

“A fox once came upon a cave, 
into which he saw many foxes had 
entered, the sand being full of foot¬ 
prints. He was about to pass in when 
his cunning detected that all the foot¬ 
prints pointed one way. All were 
turned inwards, and there were none 
leading out of the cave. We have 
come to a great cave—the grave—and 
its entrance is marked by man’s foot¬ 
prints. All lead in and none out. But 
Christ has set his feet the other way; 
and now, if we go into this cave, we 
shall follow him out again .”—London 
Sunday School Chronicle. 

958. Belief in Resurrection. 

It is said that Bishop Gilbert Haven, 
when dying, held up his arm on which 
the signs of decay were already visible, 
and cried, “I believe in the resurrec¬ 
tion of the body!” 

959. A Pledge and Pattern. 

The resurrection is set forth not 
merely as the pledge, but also as the 
pattern of our own immortality, and 
hence that is the full, rich sense in 
which this word is used in the New 
Testament; immortality means the 
immortality of the whole man—and 
the whole man includes the body as 
well as the soul.— Presbyterian. 

960. Easter and the Wavering Oui- 

j aboard. 

An American soldier had not been 
heard from by his family for months. 
His brother decided to go to Chicago 
to consult a famous medium to learn 
whether his brother had indeed died. 
He went, secured a communication in 
which his brother told him that he 
had “gone west” in a certain battle, 
and sent messages to the family. On 
returning hime the young man said to 
his father, “There is no use hoping 
any longer, Dad, I’ve had a communi¬ 
cation from—.” 

“Have you?” said his father, “that’s 



CUMULATIVE PROOF 


233 


queer, for so have I in a letter that 
came this morning from—hospital, 
where he is getting well.” 

The true attitude of Christian be¬ 
lievers, however, is not to be based on 
anything so unsatisfactory as con¬ 
jecture, and opinion. We have a 
gospel. Why go to a medium in some 
dim seance to assure us that our dear 
ones live when we have the voice of 
Jesus? 

“He that believeth in me shall never 
die.” 

“I am the resurrection and the life.” 

“I go to prepare a place for you.” 

“In my Father’s house are many 
mansions, if it were not so I would 
have told you.” 

“To-day thou shalt be with me in 
Paradise.” 

“This is eternal life to know Thee, 
the only true God, and Jesus Christ 
whom thou hast sent.” 

Let us magnify the gospel truth of 
deathless personal life beyond death 
with Christ in the presence of God. 
Let us live in the resurrection as did 
the early disciples, and sorrowing men 
will not need to rest their souls on 
dubious and feeble messages scribbled 
on a wavering ouij aboard.— H. B. 
Montgomery. 

961. Cumulative Proof. 

Anyone who reads attentively the 
four stories of the resurrection in the 
Gospels, and compares with them the 
earlier writings of Paul, 1 Cor. 15:5, 
and other New Testament references, 
cannot but be struck by certain vari¬ 
ations in the story. The persons 
present, the hour, the heavenly visitors, 
Jesus’ words—all these points differ 
slightly in the narratives. But the 
discrepancies only make more sure 
the fact that Jesus rose. Each writer 
told the story as he heard it from 
others; each was interested in a dif¬ 
ferent aspect of the event; but in each 
narrative the supreme fact is attested 
with equal decision: that Jesus did 


rise and that his followers believed 
it, some readily, some only after 
ocular proof.— H. L. Willett. 

962. The Resurrection. 

Some years ago, I kept a marine 
aquarium. As I stood looking at it 
one summer day, I saw on the sur¬ 
face of the water a tiny creature, half 
fish, half snake, not an inch long, 
writhing as in mortal agony. With 
convulsive efforts, it bent its head to 
tail, now on this side, now on that, 
springing its circles with a force 
simply wonderful in a creature so 
small. I was stretching out my hands 
to remove it lest it should sink and 
die and pollute the clear waters, when, 
lo, in a moment, in a twinkling of an 
eye, its skin split from end to end, 
and there sprang out a delicate fly 
with slender black legs and pale laven¬ 
der wings. Balancing itself for one 
instant on its discarded skin, it preened 
its gossamer wings and then flew out 
of an open window. The impression 
made upon me was deep and over¬ 
powering. I learned that nature was 
everywhere hinting at the truth of the 
resurrection.— C. 

963. His Greatest Surprise. 

An old man of ninety often said 
that he had had all the surprises in 
life he thought possible, and it would 
have to be a wonderful event now to 
make him enthusiastic. One day, 
shortly after his ninety-first birthday, 
which fell on Easter Suntiay, he was 
heard to shout out: “Christ is risen! 
He died for me, and now he’s risen!” 
All his life the old man had ignored 
the Saviour, but quite suddenly the 
meaning of Easter was revealed to 
him, and he had his greatest surprise 
of all .—Christian Herald. 

964. The Invitation of Closed 

Doors. 

When the disciples locked the doors, 
Christ knew he was sure of a wel- 



234 


COMFORT OF THE RESURRECTION 


come. He could not get their ear on 
account of the din and confusion that 
came through the open doors. Clos¬ 
ing the door to the world is opening 
the door to the Master. He is always 
passing by those doors that are wide 
open to all the frivolity and vanity 
of men; but wherever he finds the 
door shut to these things, he comes. 
Do not be afraid of shutting the door; 
it is the best invitation for the Mas¬ 
ter to enter.— W. L. Goldsmith. 

965. New Easter Flowers. 

“What I do thou knowest not now; 
but thou shalt know hereafter.” John 
13: 7. It is said that the shell-torn 
battlefields of France are now blos¬ 
soming with a myriad of flowers such 
as the oldest living inhabitant does not 
remember seeing there. The seeds 
of these flowers, buried long ago, have 
lain dormant in the depths of the 
soil. The terrible plough-share of war 
has brought them once more to the 
light of the sun and the revivification 
of the rain. Now they reproduce the 
lost beauty of olden times. 

The Phenomenon is a lovely parable. 
Not all is evil even in that most 
wicked and cruel thing, the world 
war. God knows how to bring good 
out of evil. God’s children also 
should know how. There are flowers 
of peace, of brotherhood, of mutual 
understanding and forbearance, of 
sound justice and patient charity and 
helpfulness, which may yet be brought 
to bloom out of all this grief and loss. 
The world has a new soil. What 
shall we grow in it?— A. 

966. The Comfort of the Resurrec¬ 
tion. 

I once stood holding the hand of a 
mother and together we looked on the 
sleeping face of a lovely girl who 
passed away in her twentieth year. 
“Farewell, my sweet daughter,” the 
mother said. “I wish you joy. You 
have gone to see the Saviour and to 
be with Him. I shall have you again 


when He pleases. Farewell, till we 
meet again.” 

That daughter had been devoted in 
her sweet girlhood to loving work for 
other girls poorer and less fortunate 
than herself. Her mother took up the 
work the youthful hands laid down, 
and carried it forward day by day for 
the sake of her child in heaven. That 
mother was comforted; she believed 
in the life everlasting, she knew and 
dwelt with the risen Christ. 

What should we do in this world of 
loss and change without the comfort 
of the resurrection ?—Christian Intelli¬ 
gencer. 

967. John Bunyan on the Resurrec¬ 
tion. 

John Bunyan, the prince of practical 
dreamers, paints a beautiful picture of 
the power of Christ’s death and resur¬ 
rection to give life and take away the 
guilt of sin. In his “Pilgrim’s Prog¬ 
ress,” he says: “Upon that place 
stood a cross, and a little below a 
sepulchre. So I saw in my dream, 
that, just as Christian came up with 
the cross, his burden loosed from off 
his shoulders, and fell from off his 
back, and began to tumble, and so con¬ 
tinued to do till it came to the mouth 
of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and 
I saw it no more. Then was Chris¬ 
tian glad, and said, ‘He hath given me 
life by his death.’ ” 

968. Jungle Belief. 

Dan Crawford told a London audi¬ 
ence that the people in the jungle of 
Africa have a tremendous belief in 
the immortality of the soul. “These 
people tell you that the dead do not 
really die, the body to them is the 
cottage of the soul. You say, ‘He 
has departed.’ They say, ‘He has 
arrived.’ .British Weekly. 

969. Legend of the Easter Lily. 

The legend which tells of the origin 
of the Easter lily is itself full of 
poetry. It says that when Jesus 



THE BRIDGE OVER DEATH 


235 


rose from the dead and left the 
tomb on the eventful morning of the 
resurrection he left a long train of 
Easter lilies. For, according to this 
charming fancy, wherever the foot of 
the Lord of Life touched the soil an 
Easter lily bloomed. This is true in 
a larger sense than the legend puts 
it. Wherever Jesus has gone every 
beautiful and good thing has 
bloomed. 

970. Life and Immortality in the 

Gospel. 

Centuries ago when Great Britain 
was a heathen country, the king and 
his nobles were discussing whether 
they should receive the missionaries 
of the religion of Christ. An old 
thane said, “When we are in our 
halls about the fire a little bird comes 
in from the darkness outside; it flies 
about for a little while in the light 
and then goes out into the darkness, 
we know not where. So it is with 
the life of man. We are in the light 
for a little time; then we go out 
again into the darkness we know not 
where. If these men can tell us about 
the life after death, let them speak 
that we may hear and know.” 

971. Evidences of Resurrection 

Truth. 

A favorite ground for denying the 
Resurrection is the alleged conflicting 
nature of the records. In describing 
the discussion after a lecture to work¬ 
ing men in defense of the faith in 
London, the Church Times says: A 
man rose on the other side of the 
hall and said, “I should like to ask the 
lecturer if the narratives of the Resur¬ 
rection would not be more convincing 
if they agreed?” The lecturer an¬ 
swered, “I don’t know: 1 was once 
serving on a jury when we had three 
witnesses who told exactly the same 
tale in very similar words. They 
stood cross-examination quite well, 
but the judge told us to receive their 
evidence with caution, just because 


it was so uniform. Independent 
witnesses who are telling the truth, 
he said, almost always disagree about 
some details, because of their different 
points of view’. No, I don’t think 
the Gospels would be more convinc¬ 
ing if they agreed exactly. Seeming 
discrepancies only tend to confirm 
the accuracy of the narrative.” 

972. The Easter Knowledge. 

To know is better than to hope. 
Hope is a cheery improvement upon 
discouragement, but it is no substitute 
for the conviction that comes with 
absolute knowledge. No trusting child 
of God ever needs to be content with 
“hoping for the best”; he knows that 
the best, and nothing but the best, is 
bound to be his in God’s service. A 
striking illustration of this truth is 
found in the improved translation 
given by the American Revision to 
the familiar passage in 1 Corinthians 
15:19. The Revision reads: “If we 
have only hoped in Christ in this life, 
we are of all men most pitiable.” 
What a blessed Easter message that 
is! What a pitiable anniversary 
Easter would be if it were a re¬ 
minder of our hope only! Thanks 
be to God, we know whom we have 
believed; and the miracle of our 
resurrection from sin is sure pledge 
of our future sharing of that resur¬ 
rection of which he was the first 
fruits. 

973. The Bridge Over Death. 

In a Scottish valley, beside a little 
brook, where there was no kindly soil, 
a Highlander once planted a tree. Of 
course it wilted and drooped. But 
suddenly, to the surprise of every one, 
it took a new start in life, and bore 
rich fruit. What was the source of 
its new life? An examination re¬ 
vealed the secret. With marvelous 
vegetable instinct it had sent out a 
shoot which ran along and over a 
narrow sheep bridge, and rooted it- 



236 


OUR CAPTAIN’S VICTORY OURS 


self in the rich loam on the other 
side of the brook. From this rich 
loam it drew its new life. Even so 
the resurrection of Jesus bridges the 
river of death that flows between 
earth and heaven, and the souls of men 
who know this send out the shoot of 
faith, which running over the bridge, 
roots itself in the eternal realities be¬ 
yond, and draws spiritual life from 
the very fullness of God. — David 
Gregg, D.D. 

974. Consider the Lilies. 

They have a lesson for us to-day. 
Christ is risen, and, pointing to the 
lilies, he shows us a beautiful simili¬ 
tude of the great mystery. All the 
winter they have been dead and hidden 
in the cold earth, but the time has 
come for them to manifest their glory. 
No sooner does the warm sun of the 
springtime shine on their graves than 
they rise to sudden life and beauty, 
and every seed takes its own peculiar 
body. Even so is the resurrection 
of the dead. 

975. Emigration. 

“Death, under the Christian aspect, 
is but God’s method of colonization; 
the transition from this mother-coun¬ 
try of our race to the fairer and 
newer world of our emigration.” 

976. Showed “Himself.” 

One of the sweetest of Easter 
thoughts is that Jesus Christ, notwith¬ 
standing his resurrection in celestial 
power is “the same yesterday, to-day 
and forever.” In the tragedy of 
Julius Caesar, his past associate speaks 
doubtfully of his future conduct, re¬ 
minding his companion that “ ’Tis the 
bright day brings forth the adder.” 
Man in prosperity is not always what 
he was ini lowly estate. But the 
disciples who companied with the 
Saviour, loved to say that after his 
resurrection “he showed himself.” A 
world of comfort in a word! He 
who came to reveal the Father, under 


the changed condition showed the 
same loving, gentle, compassionate re¬ 
gard for his disciples. The Master 
who upon the mount broke the bread, 
by the seashore spread the fish be¬ 
fore the coals. The Jesus bound, in 
the judgment hall did not look more 
tenderly upon the erring Peter than 
the glorified Christ did upon the peni¬ 
tent disciples, and the last message of 
the angels was that when he should 
return and all his holy angels with 
him, he should be “this same Jesus.” 

977. Our Captain’s Victory Ours. 

When a cricket match is over, and 
we hear that one captain is beaten, 
we know that implies the defeat of 
the whole eleven, even the very best 
players in it. The victory of the 
other captain means that all on his 
side are victorious too, including the 
most indifferent players. Are we on 
Christ’s side? Then we are sure of 
victory over death, not through our 
own strength or good living, but be¬ 
cause our Captain was victorious.— 
C. B. Stocks. 

978. We Live Through Him. 

Easter sets before the mind and 
imagination all the glorious possibi¬ 
lities of a bright hereafter which the 
finite mind can grasp. And yet, vivid 
as the picture often grows, painted in 
all the beauty and sublimity the im¬ 
agination can picture or portray, the 
declaration of Scripture still declares 
that it hath not “entered into the heart 
of man, the things which God hath 
prepared for them that love him.” 

Belief in a risen Lord, acceptance 
of him as a Saviour, secures an en¬ 
trance into that safe haven of rest 
where Christ sitteth at the right hand 
of God. 

“He for all sinners died, 

Was crucified, 

To heaven ascended then, 

Where we, the sons of men. 

May follow—if we own 
We live through him alone!” 

—Christian Uplook. 



WITNESSES THAT CONVINCE 


237 


979. Witnesses That Convince. 

An infidel Swiss artist was com¬ 
missioned to make a caricature of a 
Salvation Army meeting in Sheffield. 
He went there on the errand, and 
scanned the faces of the people. With 
his heart like the troubled sea that 
could not find rest, tossed and driven 
by tempests of passion, and tormented 
by a conscience burdened by sin, he 
looked on the assembled worshipers 
and saw peace written on their coun¬ 
tenances. The sight convinced him of 
his sinfulness. He saw that those 
people had what he had not and what 
he needed, and their faces were the 
means of leading him to Christ and 
the peace which Christ alone can 
give. The risen Christ is still visible 
in his people, filled with hope and 
cheer. 

980. The Resurrection Rock. 

Mr. Moody once said: “We want 
more Christians like the Irishman who, 
when asked if he did not tremble dur¬ 
ing a certain storm when he was 
standing on a rocky eminence, said, 
‘Yes, my legs trembled, but the rock 
didn’t, and because my feet were on 
the rock I felt safe.” 

981. His Friends Shall Rise. 

Let us not imagine Christ is not 
our friend because we suffer. He al¬ 
lowed Lazarus to die, yet we are told, 
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and 
Lazarus. Jesus’ friends now on earth 
may all die, may all sleep; but he has 
not forgotten them. One day He will 
say to the angels, “My friends sleep, 
but I go to awake them.”— B. H. 
Harding. 

982. Ready for the Journey. 

A missionary in Ningpo, China, 
wrote home of the death of a carpen¬ 
ter, who had been an earnest idolator. 
During his last illness, the pastor of 
the church near his shop went to see 
him. The message of salvation 


through Jesus Christ made a deep im¬ 
pression. He cried out for forgive¬ 
ness, and made known his purpose to 
worship God only, whether he lived 
or died. When he was dying, his 
family wished to perform the usual 
heathen rites which attend a death, but 
he rejected them all. When asked, 
“Don’t you want the lanterns lit?” (to 
light him through the dark valley), 
he replied, “Why do I want a lantern ? 
It is all light about me.” “Shall we 
burn the paper money?” (to pay his 
passage at the river of death). “No, 
Jesus has paid the passage.” Then he 
died in peace.— Rev. John T. Baris. 

983. The Spirit of Easter. 

Easter is the promise of the Lord 
that all the best and noblest in man 
shall be renewed, even as growth and 
bloom and ripening shall not cease. 

Belief in eternal life compels us to 
believe in good deeds and honest 
thought. The good man toils not for 
to-day, nor for to-morrow alone, but 
because he knows that his labor shall 
survive long after his hand has fallen 
from the plough. The good man pours 
himself into the world and makes it 
new. He is among the blessed who 
win sight out of blindness, order out 
of chaos, and life out of death. 

Since the first Easter morning the 
soul of man has shone with unwasting 
light; for then he looked into the 
radiant face of the risen Christ, and 
knew that God’s universe shapes itself 
not to destruction, but to a yet more 
glorious genesis; yea, it endureth 
from everlasting to everlasting.— 
Helen Keller, Deaf and Blind. 

984. Ready for the Journey. 

A personal letter from a missionary 
in Syria gives this account of the 
death of the Rev. William K. Eddy: 
“While on his last trip, he had two of 
his young boys with him. They were 
camped in a tent near two churches 
—Alma and Bussa—where he was to 



238 


OUTSIDE AND INSIDE 


administer communion in the morn¬ 
ing. After he had retired, he realized 
that a blood-vessel in his chest had 
burst; he felt the hand of death 
upon him. He called his servant and 
his children, and said: ‘To-day our 
dear Mr. Ford is just sailing from 
America for Syria, and I am leaving 
Syria for heaven.’ After sending 
messages to his friends and family, 
he asked his boy, Clarence, to repeat 
the Twenty-third Psalm. Then he 
said, ‘Let us all go to sleep,’ at mid¬ 
night, when others were sleeping, he 
went down into the valley and up 
into the brightness of the life of the 
redeemed,—a beautiful, triumphant 
death.”— Rev. John T. Far is. 

985. Nature’s Resurrection. 

A lover of nature has recently 
written, that with the coming of 
spring she is accustomed to go to a 
certain country spot that she may 
welcome the advent. It represents 
her “season” and she would not ex¬ 
change the time for an)^thing else 
in the world, Turn where one may, 
the spirit of hope and new life may 
be found bursting over the country; 
tender flashes of virgin green, and 
drifts of white, beautiful blossoms. 
The ground is studded with simple 
primroses, and the white anemones 
seem to be hanging their pure 
delicate heads in timid consciousness 
of the surrounding beauty. To any¬ 
one with an eye for nature, every 
country lane is just now displaying 
a resurrection from the death of 
winter. And if God so clothes the 
fields in a risen beauty, shall He not 
much more clothe His people in 
resurrection splendor? “Now is 
Christ risen from the dead, and be¬ 
come the first fruits of them that 
sleep ,”—The Christian. 

986. Easter Faith in Our Heart. 

Death is a great fact, but so also is 
life—a greater fact. We face death, 


but we face life as well. Easter is 
the most significant of the Christian 
festivals. It is even more significant 
than Christmas, for that heralds the 
child Jesus, while this heralds the 
full-grown Christ; Christmas speaks 
of God’s entrance into our low estate, 
while Easter shows us His return to 
His glory. The lesson of Christmas 
is love’s humility, the lesson of Easter 
is love’s triumphant power. We 
enter the Christmas spirit with our 
hearts the Easter spirit with our 
souls. Christmas points to earth and 
time, Easter to heaven and eternity. 
As we grow older the certainty of 
death will loom before us with ever¬ 
growing insistence; we can conquer 
the fear of it only as we get the 
Easter faith into our heart .—Amos 
R. Wells, D.D. 

987. Outside and Inside. 

At a Christian Evidence meeting 
in Hyde Park, London, an opponent 
tried to show that the writers of the 
Gospels had contradicted each other. 
He said: “One of the writers said 
the women saw the angels outside 
the sepulchre; while another says 
they were inside. Which are we to 
believe?” “Both,” said the Christian 
Evidence lecturer. “When the 
women saw the two angels outside 
they were told to go and tell the 
disciples and Peter. Well, it would 
take at least half an hour to go to 
Peter’s house and return, and when 
they got back Mary saw two angels 
inside the tomb,” “Why, man,” 
added the lecturer, “a tortoise could 
could have gone from the outside to 
the inside of the tomb in that time, 
let alone an angel!” And the crowd 
laughed heartily .—Sunday School 
Chronicle. 

988. Note of Victory. 

On Easter the church strikes the 
note of praise and sings of victory. 



MRS. HODGE’S TOMBSTONE 


239 


Faith overcomes the world and its 
sorrows, and sees the Celestial City 
shining beyond the river. An anony¬ 
mous writer says: 

IvO, in all sorrow here, 

Often deep repining. 

Through all doubt and darksome fear 
Easter sun is shining; 

Wherefore now on things above 
Set we our affection, 

Know the power of Jesus’ love 
By His resurrection I 
Gladsome birds, fresh breezes, tell 
With the sunny weather 
The dear creed we love so well, 

“All things rise together.” 

So the angels joyfully 

Taught the wondrous story: 

“Christ is risen! To Galilee 
Go and preach His glory!” 

989. One Day Apart. 

“Lift up your heads, ye sorrowing ones. 
And be ye glad of heart; 

For Calvary day and Easter day, 

Earth’s saddest day and gladdest day. 
Were just one day apart.” 

990. The Living One. 

High up in the Alps is said to be 
a little chapel, with some humble 
cottage homes nestling about it. 
The doorstep of the chapel has been 
worn hollow by the feet of genera¬ 
tions of men and women who have 
gone in to seek God in the name of 
Jesus Christ. All the cheer and hope 
and purity of their lives came from 
that source. And there are many 
such buildings, humble or grand, on 
the hillsides and in the valleys of 
earth. Acts of worship in the name 
of Christ, and the observance of the 
Last Supper, are taking place on the 
first day of the week, the Lord’s 
Day, among all peoples. Every¬ 
where are hospitals and asylums, and 
loving ministries in the name of 
Christ. What mysterious power ex¬ 
alts that name above every name? 
Is it not because He is God’s highest 
revelation to men? Through Him 
comes God’s touch and final word 
to us. He is to us, as to Tennyson— 
“Strong Son of God, immortal Love.” 


He is, therefore—the Living One. 
He has demonstrated the power of 
life over death, and of the survival 
of personal identity. Voltaire, in one 
of his letters, says: “I dread death 
and hate life.” On the other hand, 
John Calvin, at death, said: “I am 
happy to live and die in Christ.” 
These are almost Paul’s words: 
“For me to live is Christ and to die 
is gain. I have a desire to depart 
and be with Christ, which is very 
far better.” 

The assurance of a future life of 
perfection and blessedness lies only 
in the promise of Christ, and in a 
conscious new order, or spiritual 
quality of life, generated by Him in 
us .—The Interior. 

991. On Mrs. Hodge’s Tombstone. 

Passing by the newer granite head¬ 
stones with their air of solidity, 
one can easily tell the older part of 
Princeton’s beautiful City of the 
Dead by the long low graves over¬ 
laid with the old-time flat marble 
stones. Here rest the ashes of some 
of Princeton’s famous theologians of 
former days, and their families. 
One of these marble slabs marked 
the grave of the Rev. Charles Hodge, 
D.D., and another was “Sacred to the 
memory of Sarah Bache,” the wife 
of Dr. Hodge. It bore a beautiful 
inscription, in which affection and 
good taste were blended from a 
scholarly pen. “A devoted wife and 
mother, she lived in love and died in 
faith,” the tribute said. There was 
more, but it ended this way. 

“We tenderly lay her away here 
to gather strength and beauty for the 
coming of the Lord.” 

I was glad that Charles Hodge 
put that on his wife’s tombstone. 
I remember a big black book in an 
old manse library. It had no pictures 
in it, and no stories like the books 




240 


THE RISEN LIFE 


bound in green cloth, “Pilgrims 
Progress” and D’Aubigne’s History 
of the Reformation. The thick 
undergrowth of its theological ver¬ 
biage, so to speak, did not invite 
childish incursions into its pages. 
But father liked it and used it— 
that black-bound volume with the 
gilt letters, “Commentary on Romans, 
by Charles Hodge.” 

I was glad to see now, as I stood 
meditating and musing in the old 
cemetery, that Charles Hodge loved 
the Lord’s appearing enough to put 
that inscription over his wife’s grave. 
I fancied myself following hard upon 
the thoughts of the great theologian 
about the resurrection body, its 
“strength and beauty” clothed over 
the old natural body. I could think 
forward to the voice of the arch¬ 
angel and the trump of God, when 
Abraham should reach out an arm 
to arouse his Sarah in the cave of 
Machpelah, and Charles Hodge 
should do the same for his Sarah 
under those old marble slabs in 
Princeton’s cemetery. The King’s 
daughters shall surely be all glorious 
within that day .—Sunday School 
Times. 

992. Belief in Immortality. 

Belief in the immortality of the 
soul is found in all ages of the world 
and among all nations and tribes. In 
Aryan mythology the souls of the 
dead are supposed to ride on the 
night wind, gathering into their ranks 
the souls of people just dying. In 
many parts of Europe they open a 
window when a person dies that the 
soul may go out of the house and 
join the passing army of disembodied 
spirits. In Persia a dog is brought to 
the bedside of the dying that the soul 
may be sure of a prompt escort. The 
old Mohammedans called the rain¬ 
bow the bridge Essirat, over which 


souls must pass on their way to 
heaven. Ancient heathen believed 
that after death one has greater 
powers than when living. Hence the 
Hindu would kill himself before his 
enemy’s door to acquire greater 
power of injuring him. 

In Japan they had what was called 
the “Feast of Lanterns.” At night 
they went out to the cemetery and 
placed a lighted lantern at every 
grave. Strangely picturesque was the 
graveyard now with its myriad of 
glimmering lights. These lanterns 
were for the spirits of the dead to 
find their way back to relatives on 
earth. Feasts were held in every 
household. It was believed the spirits 
came and visited with the living 
relatives in the old home. On the 
third night the spirits were believed 
to depart. Every year the souls of 
the dead thus revisited the scenes on 
earth. These curious ideas all teach 
the general fact that all nations and 
tribes have some belief in the im¬ 
mortality of the soul.— H . 

993. The Risen Life. 

A little child stooped to catch a 
sunbeam as it danced upon the floor. 
She grasped it in her dimpled hand, 
but the beam would not stay in her 
grasp, though it lay upon her fingers 
like a band of bright gold. The 
child seemed disappointed, and yet 
her effort was not really in vain. It 
gave her pleasure for a time, and 
then the light she could not carry 
away yet lies in gladsome measure 
in the depths of her blue eyes. This 
is a little parable. Seeking, striving 
after the lovely things, is never in 
vain, though we may seem not to 
grasp them. We are holier and 
better for the striving. The beautiful 
things we long for and try to get, 
we do really get in one sense—we get 
them into the depths of our soul. 
They hide there and make our life 



A TUNNEL INSTEAD OF A TOMB 


241 


brighter and more beautiful. “If ye 
be risen with Christ seek those things 
which are above.” 

994. The Greatest Festival. 

In the early Christian Church 
Easter was the greatest festival of 
the Christian year. It was called 
Dominica Guadii, the Joyful Sunday. 
“Christ is risen,” was the salutation 
as Christian met Christian in the 
streets of Rome, and back came the 
joyful words, “He is risen indeed!” 

995. The Easter Fact. 

There is no line ’twixt life and death; 

They separate in thought alone; 
Their seeming boundary a breath, 

A tolling bell, a mound, a stone. 

There is no line ’twixt life and death; 

They separate in thought alone; 

Their seeming boundary a breath, 

A tolling bell, a mound, a stone. 

When life begins, then death begins; 

When life is ended, death is done; 

When death its final victory wins, 

Life’s victory is just begun. 

For deeper far than death or life 

Are God, and something we call “I”;— 
It’s only death to yield the strift; 

It’s life to strive and seem to die. 

—Henry H. Bar stow, D.D. 

996. A Master of the Grave. 

Christ is the Master of the grave. 
Just outside of the city of Nain, 
Death and Christ measured lances; 
and when the young man rose, 
Death dropped. Now we are sure 
of our resurrection. Oh, what a 
scene it was when that young man 
came back! The mother never ex¬ 
pected to hear him speak again. She 
never thought that he would kiss 
her again. How the tears started, 
and how her heart throbbed as she 
said, “Oh, my son, my son, my son!” 
And that scene is going to be re¬ 
peated. It is going to be repeated 
ten thousand times. These broken 
family circles have got to come to¬ 
gether. These extinguished house¬ 
hold lights have got to be rekindled. 
16 


There will be a stir in the family 
lot in the cemetery, and there will 
be a rush into life at the command, 
“Young man, I say unto thee, arise!” 

997. Lulled to Sleep. 

A little girl had a baby sister who 
died, and the little baby was put into 
a tiny coffin. When the little girl 
saw it, she said, “Mother, baby has 
got a new cradle!” That was a, 
pretty name for it. Death is but 
being lulled to sleep in the arms 
of Infinite Love .—Free Methodist 
Magazine. 

998. How Grief Was Turned to 

Joy. 

A young woman was mourning the 
death of her mother. Her grief was 
so vehement that her friends feared 
to let her be present at the services 
preceding the removal of the dear 
remains from the house. To their 
surprise, however, not only was she 
perfectly calm, but in her face shone 
a great light, a light that was not 
dimmed even by the tears that filled 
her eyes as she took the last, long 
look at the beloved face. Later she 
told them that as she stood near the 
casket she saw her mother, not lying 
still and cold, but living, glorious 
and radiant, while near her was the 
form of One “like the Son of God.” 
“I could not grieve,” she said simply, 
“when I looked upon my mother’s 
joy.” So, to the eye of faith, does 
the risen Christ still reveal the 
glorious life into which the departed 
have entered, granting us to see them, 
not still and cold and unfeeling, but 
radiant with joy and love, alive for 
evermore .—Mary G. Robertson. 

ggg. A Tunnel Instead of a Tomb. 

Some people were passing from the 
streets of the city through the base¬ 
ment of the church into the church 
proper. The basement was unlighted, 
and one found the sudden change 



242 


SEVENTY-YEAR CLOCK 


from light to darkness too much. He 
could not find the doorway at the 
foot of the basement stairs. For 
a moment he stood lost and be¬ 
wildered, until another gave him a 
hand and led him through the door¬ 
way. They all passed up into the 
church, and looked at the decorated 
interior, which they had come to see. 
Some windows of beautiful design 
and harmonious execution held their 
rapt attention. The sun shone through 
the rich-tinted glass, and warmed the 
colors into rose-tinted life. In their 
deep admiration of the feast of color 
and beauty, they forgot the temporary 
blindness of the passage, just as the 
darkness of the grave is lost sight of 
when we remember that it is only a 
passageway into a glorious heaven. 

“Where is yoiir little brother?” 
they asked of a child whose brother 
had just been buried. “Asleep in his 
winged cradle,” was the child’s reply. 
— Rev. John F. Cowan, D.D. 

1000. The Glorified Body. 

A young woman who had been 
crippled and deformed from infancy 
once said, “I love to plant flower 
seeds, for the homely, little, insig¬ 
nificant seed comes up a beautiful 
green plant, and blossoms with a 
lovely flower, and then I remember 
that I, if I do the best I can where 
I am, may some day grow out of this 
homely body into beauty.” 

1001. “The Cemetery.” 

The most beautiful name ever given 
to the place where the remains of our 
beloved friends lie is that of “ceme¬ 
tery.” The word is taken from the 
Greek, which in its primitive meaning 
signifies a sleeping place, then a 
!>urial-place; because a peaceful death 
so much resembles sleep. 

“The damsel is not dead but 
sleepeth,” said Christ to the as¬ 
tonished Jews. So of Lazarus, “Our 


friend Lazarus sleepeth.” Stephen 
also “fell asleep.” 

To think of the tomb as a place 
of rest, as a sleeping place, robs it 
of more than half its terrors. How 
still and quiet is their sleep! No 
voice disturbs the silence of the 
grave; the call of loved ones wakes 
not the dead. We sorrow not for 
the pious dead as those who have no 
hope, we know their bodies shall 
slumber in the ground until the 
Archangel’s trump shall call them 
forth; then “them also that sleep in 
Jesus shall God bring with Him.”— 
Christian Observer. 

1002. Beyond Death Life. 

The rising of the water-lily from 
the mud at the bottom of the pond is 
a familiar illustration of death, but 
it is ever true and beautiful. How 
dark it is, down below the surface 
of the water, where the mud is, and 
how bright is the sun in the upper 
air! How ugly are the twisting roots 
down in the mud, and how lovely is 
the pure white lily up above! That 
is the way death looks to us, all 
dark and gloomy and ugly; but be¬ 
yond death is a new life all sunshine 
and beauty and joy. This is the happy 
message of Easter.—Dr. Amos R. 
Wells. 

1003. What Christ Did for Us. 

In the country there was a house 
which was supposed to have a haunted 
room. One day the father deter¬ 
mined to put a stop to the super¬ 
stition, so he said he would sleep in 
that room. He did so, and the next 
morning he came down smiling. 
“There,” he said, “I told you. There 
is nothing to be afraid of there.” 
Is not this exactly what Christ did 
for us? 

1004. Seventy-Year Clock. 

Our brain is a seventy-year clock. 
The Angel of Life winds it up once 




POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE 


243 


for all, then closes the case and gives 
the key into the hands of the Angel 
of the Resurrection .—Oliver Wendell 
Holmes. 

1005. “If a Man Die.” 

A florist was working among his 
flowers one day. As he toiled in the 
joy of the morning a favorite plant 
fell from it’s place to the ground. 
The reddish clay within whose form 
it grew was broken by the fall, but 
the flower was not injured in the 
slightest way. With dextrous hand 
the gardener gave it larger space in 
which to grow anew, and soon it 
bloomed in beauty rich and rare. 

There is a tenant living in a mold 
of fragile clay. Some day the claim 
will come for greater room, and then 
the “outgrown shell” will fall away. 
If in the youthful morning, and not 
the aged afternoon, the signal hour 
appears, it need not be made som- 
brous by the mist of doubt or fear. 
God has a place for every soul re¬ 
deemed and in his grace where it may 
reach the summit of the self it longs 
and prays to be. All uncompleted 
plans and dreams shall come to full 
fruition there. 

“If a man die shall he live again?” 
But he is not to die. “God giveth it 
a body” and “I am the resurrection 
and the life” are words that ostracize 
the thought of death and give as¬ 
surance of eternal day .—Thomas 
Frederick Williams . 

1006. Surrender? Never. 

Once during the wars between the 
Spanish and the French, the Span¬ 
iards, who were investing their foes, 
sent an insulting note to the French 
commander, General Coligny: “Sur¬ 
render ! We are more numerous than 
you.” And General Coligny wrote his 
reply on a piece of paper and fastened 
it to an arrow and shot it into the 
Spanish camp. It read; “Sur¬ 
render? Never! We have a king with 


us.” When we are tempted to sur¬ 
render because things seem to be 
going wrong in the world, we can 
fling back the same proud and defiant 
answer. We have a King with us. 
Easter tells that the King is with us. 

1007. He Goeth Before. 

Principal Cairns in the modesty of 
his great nature used to stand back 
and let others precede him on public 
occasions, until his “You first, I 
follow,” became a settled habit. 
When he lay dying, he bade fare¬ 
well to his family, and the watchers 
noticed his lips still moved. They 
bent to catch his last words. He 
was speaking to Him who was dearer 
to him than life, Jesus, and he was 
murmuring, “You first, I follow.” 

1008. Only the Moat. 

The grave is only the moat around 
the inner castle of the King, across 
which they who have long been his 
loving and loyal retainers on the 
farther side enter in, sure of a wel¬ 
come to the heart of his hospitality.— 
Phillips Brooks . 

1009. Power of an Endless Life. 

“Who is made, not after the law of 
carnal commandment, but after the 
power of an endless life.” Heb. 7: 
16. Whoever has longed to take a 
limited train at a small station, only 
to see it dash by the station with 
apparently undiminished speed, has 
seen a common phenomenon that is a 
fair illustration of the power of im¬ 
mortal life. 

The limited train declines even to 
slow down at the small station because 
stopping there would make it shut off 
its steampower a half-mile down the 
track and so cause it to lose many 
precious seconds. If the train must 
stop soon, it certainly will slow down 
now. 

Just this is what would happen to 
us if we thought that our lives were 



244 


IS DEATH MERELY GOOD-BYE? 


to end with death. We should feel 
that intellectual attainment, spiritual 
growth and work for the welfare of 
others were scarcely worth while. 
Before we got well started, we must 
stop—and stop forever; so why have 
power for swift travel now, or even 
use what we do have?— Rev. P. P. 
Paris. 

1010. A New Everlasting Flower. 

A newspaper tells us that Mr. 
Luther Burbank, that wizard of horti¬ 
culture, has developed a new flower, 
which surpasses all the miracles he 
has before wrought. It is an “ever¬ 
lasting” flower, which holds, even 
without water, its freshness and 
beauty, and stranger yet, its frag¬ 
rance, for a twelvemonth. 

This achievement was anticipated 
at Jacob’s well in the announcement 
to the Samaritan woman that the 
strange traveler offered a living 
water to all who drink of Him; a 
well that springs up into everlasting 
life. Though all joys, youth, health, 
wealth, and friends are gone, comers 
to this Saviour need never sigh: “All 
my springs are dried up,” but they 
can always sing, “All my springs 
are in Thee.” They have found in¬ 
visible sources which keep their souls 
forever fresh and their influence a 
perfume that abideth. 

Easter is the blossoming of the 
sweetest and most beautiful ever¬ 
lasting flower. 

1011. The Impossible. 

“But,” said the Materialist, “you 
m*ust concede that literal physical 
resurrection of the body is in some 
cases absolutely impossible.” 

“As, for instance?” I countered 
cautiously. 

“Well, for a historical example, 
take Wycliffe. After his death his 
body was exhumed and burned, and 
the ashes were scattered on the river 
Severn. The Severn carried the ashes 


down to the sea, and the particles 
composing the body of Wycliffe are 
scattered over the whole circum¬ 
ference of the globe.” 

“And you think that such a dis¬ 
persion of the particles of a human 
body makes it impossible that those 
particles should ever be regathered 
into a body again?” 

“Practically so, at least.” 

“And yet particles are daily being 
gathered from the whole circumfer¬ 
ence of the globe and built up into 
human bodies.” 

“How so? What do you mean?” 

“Simply this. Look over this table 
from which we have just partaken of 
food, the particles of which will 
become component elements of our 
bodies. Whence came these particles ? 
We both ate rice which came from 
Japan. I drank tea from China, 
while you indulged in coffee from 
Java or Arabia. We seasoned our 
food with pepper from Ceylon. Some 
of those nuts you are now eating 
came from California, others from 
Brazil. Now, if God can cause all 
these elemental particles, brought 
from the whole sweep of the globe, 
to become a part of your present 
body and mine, I contend that He 
can, if necessary, cause that the 
particles of Wycliffe’s body shall be 
regathered from earth, sea, and air 
to form that body again. Don’t you 
think so?” 

“Well, you have put the matter in 
a new light at least,” said the Mate¬ 
rialist. “I shall have to think this 
over.” 

“Better look up a new objection to 
the resurrection while you are about 
it,” remarked the Bystander. “That 
one is too full of holes to use again.” 
— Rev. George C. Alborn. 

1012. Is Death Merely “Good-Bye.” 

“O death, where is thy sting? O 
grave, where is thy victory?” r 
Cor. 15: 55. An old Greek cemetery 



EASTER GIVES THE FAR VISION 


245 


has been discovered and excavated in 
Athens, and many of the tombs and 
monuments are in a good state of 
preservation though more than two 
thousand years old. 

It is not often visited by the hurried 
tourist, who is satisfied to leave 
Athens after he has seen the Par¬ 
thenon, Mars Hill, the Arch of 
Hadrian, and the temple of Theseus. 
Yet it is one of the most interesting 
spots within the wide circumference 
of this most interesting city. 

It is said to be the only ancient 
Greek cemetery known to exist, 
though many monuments similar to 
these have been discovered and are 
stored in the museums of Athens 
and other cities. 

Many of the monuments are in the 
shape of a little temple with bas- 
relief figures of the departed. 

He is often represented as shaking 
hands with a friend who is in a 
sitting posture, and on the tombstone 
is usually the name of the deceased, 
and the Greek word that means 
“Good-by” Sometimes scenes of 
every-day life are depicted—a woman 
at her toilet, a servant bringing her 
jewel-case, presumably that she may 
take a last look at its contents. Other 
tombstones represent “banquets of 
the dead,” where the dead person is 
represented as reclining on a couch 
while a friend is seated at his feet. 

But by far the most common rep¬ 
resentation is that of friend shaking 
hands with friend and saying, “Good- 
by” ; or a husband saying, “Good-by” 
to wife, father to son, mother to 
child. 

Let us beware in our modern Chris¬ 
tianity of the mistake of the 
Athenians. 

Death is more than “Good-by.’ 1 
For this mortal must put on im¬ 
mortality, this corruptible must put 
on incorruption. 

Death shall be swallowed up in 
victory. If in this life only we have 


hope, if there is nothing for us to 
do but to improve the social system, 
then we can only say, “Good-by” 
with a placid face at the end. 

But this will never satisfy the 
heart of mankind. A model tenement 
with all modern improvements can 
never be the home of the soul. St. 
Paul, rather than the Stoics of 
Athens, voices the longing of man¬ 
kind, for his teachings alone will 
enable us to cry concerning death, 
“Thanks be unto God who giveth us 
the victory through our Lord Jesus 
Christ!”— Rev. Francis B. Clark, D.D. 

1013. Christ Lives. 

The sorrows of life as well as the 
fear of death call for Easter min¬ 
istrations. 

Richard Watson Gilder writes: 

The I,ord is risen indeed. 

He is here for your love, for your need— 
Not in the grave, or the sky, 

But here where men live and die; 

And true the word that was said: 

"Why seek ye the living among the dead?" 

Wherever are tears and sighs. 

Wherever are children’s eyes, 

Where man calls man his brother, 

And > loves as himself another, 

Christ lives. The angels said, 

"Why seek ye the living among the dead?” 

1014. Easter Gives the Far Vision. 

There is a special advantage, or 
blessed result, from observance of 
Easter. It gives the far vision. 
Easter takes our eyes from the ground 
and the present task and gives us 
the joy and blessedness of the far 
vision. 

A woman whose work is largely 
literary tells of an experience she 
had with an oculist. Her eyes were 
troubling her and she asked the 
doctor if she did not need a new pair 
of glasses. He replied that it was rest 
her eyes needed, not new lenses. She 
assured him that this was an im¬ 
possible prescription, telling him a 
little of what she had to do. 

After a moment’s thought the 
oculist asked her if she had not some 



246 


CERTAINTY OF IMMORTALITY 


far-reaching views she might look 
upon from her windows. She re¬ 
plied enthusiastically that she had— 
that from her front porch she could 
see the noble peaks of the Blue Ridge, 
and from her back window the glories 
of the Allegheny foothills. “That is 
just what you want,” said the oculist; 
“when your eyes get tired with your 
reading or writing, go and stand at 
your back window or at your front 
door, and look steadily at your 
mountains for five minutes—ten will 
be still better. This far-look will 
rest your eyes.” 

That writer found in her oculist’s 
direction not alone rest for eyes, but, 
as she says, a parable for her daily 
life. “Soul of mine,” she says to 
herself, “are you tired of the little 
treadmill of care and worry, the 
conflict with evil, the struggle after 
holiness, the narrowing grief of the 
world—tired of to-day? Then rest 
your spiritual eyes by getting a far 
vision. Look up to the beauty of 
God’s holiness. Look out upon the 
wider life which stretches away il- 
limitably.” 

There we get our Easter lesson, for 
it is just such an out-look—such a far- 
look—that Easter gives. We live in 
a narrow space in this world. Usually 
our tread is round and round in a 
very narrow circle. Life’s toils and 
tasks engross us, so fill our hearts 
and hands that we have little time 
for anything else. At least we feel 
that we have no time for anything 
else. So we tread our narrow circle. 
Life’s secularities and its struggles 
for bread keep our backs bent and our 
faces ever to the earth. Its sins and 
temptations dim our vision of God 
and heaven and heavenly things. Yes, 
our horizon is too narrow ; no wonder 
we become heart-sick and weary. We 
need to lift up our eyes, and look! 
It is the far vision that rests us. It 
is the glimpses we can get of im¬ 
mortality that alone will help and 


heal and cheer us. And it is just 
such an outlook Easter gives. It 
comes around regularly to remind us 
of the great world that stretches so 
far away beyond our close horizon. 
Easter has come to us again. It is 
here. What for? To tell us anew 
what we so easily forget—that we are 
immortal, that our life really has no 
horizon. 

1015. Certainty of Immortality. 

“But now is Christ risen from the 
dead, and become the first-fruits of 
them that slept.” 1 Cor. 15 : 20. 

Think of some of the reasons for 
believing in our immortality. 

The instinctive and universal feeling. 
The ruby-throated humming bird is 
only the humming bird we have in 
the United States east of the Rocky 
Mountains. He comes from four 
thousand miles away—from the other 
side of the Amazon—from Southern 
Central Brazil. You are familiar 
with Bryant’s poem of the water- 
fowl. It is noble music: 

“Whither, 'midst falling dew, 

While glow the heavens with the last 
steps of day. 

Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou 
pursue 

Thy solitary way? 

“There is a Power whose care 

Teaches thy way along that pathless 
coast, 

The desert and illimitable air— 

Tone wandering, but not lost." 

In either case the greater bird or 
the tiny bird trusts its instinct and 
finds that God has not cheated it; 
has provided for it a summer home. 
Is it to be supposed that God, who 
does not cheat the instinct of migra¬ 
tion in the bird, will cheat the in¬ 
stinctive feeling of Immortality he 
has planted in humanity? 

Our incompleteness. The longest 
and even the most successful life in 
this world is yet an unfinished one. 
How death blights and stops! Is it 
supposable that the life which at best 



THE GATE OF LIFE 


247 


but begins here shall forever remain 
a fragment?— Rev. Wayland Hoyt, 
D.D. 

1016. Easter Morning on Eagle 
Rock. 

The words of Matthew. “As it 
began to dawn toward the first day 
of the week/' assumed a new sig¬ 
nificance to the thousands of pilgrims 
who climbed the hills toward bare 
Eagle Rock (near Los Angeles, 
California) last Easter Sunday. 
Slow-moving, like a vast body of 
ants, they toiled up, up and still up¬ 
ward, through air laden with the 
scent of wild sage and thyme in 
bloom, crushing the blossoming yellow 
mustard and baby blue-eyes as they 
sought to gain a footing on the 
steep paths in the early morning’s 
semi-darkness. High above them, on 
top of the rock itself, stood a huge 
cross, outlined by electric lights. 

Insensibly the blue-black sky 
changed to gray and then to violet 
and rose. Over the hills a shepherd 
led his flock, as in the days of old 
in Palestine. Suddenly from the 
foot of the cross, a bugle call drowned 
the song of the mocking birds and 
the meadow larks. From somewhere 
back in the rocky heights an echo 
answered. Ten thousand listeners 
held their breath in awe. 

“Arise shine 1 For thy light is come. 

And the glory of the Lord is risen upon 
thee!” 

As the quartet of noted singers 
chanted the words the sun burst forth, 
paling the electric lights on the cross 
and bringing into bold relief its 
lilied whiteness. It seemed very ap¬ 
propriate that just then, in the dis¬ 
tance, sweet-toned chimes should 
throw out into the new day the words 
of complete assurance: 

“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the 
Lord, 

Is laid for your faith in his excellent 
Word I” 


The Scripture reading with marked 
fitness was a vivid reminder that 
“blessed are they who have not seen 
and yet have believed .”—The Conti¬ 
nent. 

1017. When Easter Morning Comes. 

I have lain in a little boat on the 
great Atlantic, under the light of 
a great lighthouse. It was so dark 
that the great stone tower could not 
be seen, the rocks on which it was 
built could not be seen, the shore 
was invisible. The wind was high, 
the sea was rough, the scud was fly¬ 
ing ; but the light shed its beams with 
cheering radiance to tell us that the 
harbor was there when day should 
break. All night it burned. We 
could not feel lost or desolate or 
forsaken with its beams on our deck. 

At length the wind changed and the 
sky grew gray, and men pink, and 
with the sunrise the light went out, 
day had come. So shines the hope 
of heaven; immortality guaranteed 
by the empty sepulctier till morning 
comes. Hope and faith go out at the 
coming of the eternal day .—Maitland 
Alexander, D.D. 

1018. The Gate of Life. 

A poet represents one coming up 
to a gate on a mountain-side, over 
which was written the words, “The 
Gate of Death,” but when he touched 
the gate it opened, and he found him¬ 
self amid great brightness and beauty; 
then, turning about, he saw above the 
gate he entered the words, “The 
Gate of Life.” If we are in Christ, 
death is abolished, and the point 
which earth calls the point of death 
is really the point of life. 

1019. The Voice of the Living 

Christ. 

There is not a hair in my head 
that was on my head when a boy. 
Not an ounce of blood, or bone, 
or flesh, not a single muscle or nerve, 




248 


GARDEN BY THE GATE 


not a single particle of matter in that 
boy’s body is in my body to-day. If 
the body is I, I am not the same 
fellow. The body of the boy is dead 
and buried in the vaults of nature. 
My body has been buried once every 
seven years. If the body is life I 
have had several lives. 

But we want something less nebulous 
than analogy. We want to hear 
the voice of Christ himself sounding 
forth those blessed words of ring¬ 
ing certainty, which put eternity into 
lour hearts. And because he has 
spoken them we can declare in the 
firm tones of an unwavering faith, 
“I believe in the resurrection of the 
body; the life everlasting.” 

1020. Christ the First-Fruits. 

Under the Levitical law, when the 
sickle was put into the ripened grain, 
the “sheaf of first-fruits” was brought 
to the priest, who waved it before the 
Lord. This was done on the morrow 
after the Sabbath—that is, on our 
Sabbath day. It was an earnest that 
the whole sheaf should be reaped. 
The first sheaf was a promise of other 
sheaves to follow. Christ is “the 
first-fruits from the dead.” His 
resurrection is the promise of other 
resurrections. “Christ the first-fruits, 
afterward they that are Christ’s at 
His coming.” “Because I live, ye 
shall live also.” Those who are 
Christ’s are to rise as He rose; to be 
with Him where He is; to behold 
His glory, and to be like Him. 

1021. Garden by the Gate. 

In one of his poems Phillips 
Brooks compares Christ to a seed 
planted in a garden, and suggests 
that, planted in the garden of our 
hearts, He will rise as He rose on 
that far-off Easter morn. 

O garden by the city gate 

Where seeds of flowers are sown. 

What Seed is this they bring in state 

With grief and sob and moan? 


They hide it in the silent ground. 

And sadly turn away, 

The dark earth closes it around 
Beneath the closing day. 

And there its patient rest it takes, 

With folded life and power. 

Till, when the third bright morning breaks. 
Behold, it bursts to flower;... 

And make our hearts Thy garden. Bloom 
In them, dear Lord, and be 
Their life of life till Life gives room 
To immortality! 

1022. The Easter Thought. 

An old Norse king sat one night 
in his hall, when the tempest was 
roaring and whistling outside. The 
fire threw its glow far out into the 
dark recesses of the hall, the brighter 
for the storm and gloom around. 
While the king talked to his council¬ 
lors before the fire, a fittle bird flew 
in, and passed over their heads and 
out at the open window. 

“Such,” said the king, “is the life 
of man; out of the darkness into the 
light, and then lost in the darkness 
and storm again.” 

“Yes, your majesty,” cried an old 
courtier; “but the bird has its nest 
beyond.” 

And the truth couid not be more 
tenderly told. What the old courtier 
said of the bird is true of all who 
love the Lord Jesus Christ. Our 
nest is beyond—in heaven.— Rev. 
James Learmount. 

1023. Easter Inside. 

The Rev. F. B. Meyer tells a story 
of how M)r. Summerville, when in 
South Africa, spoke through an 
interpreter to two little Zulu boys. 
One of them went to hear the 
preacher; and when he came back 
to his mistress, and she asked him 
what he had heard, he said, “Oh, 
there was a wonderful Man, and the 
people were very unkind to Him, and 
He died and went up to heaven; but 
He came down again, and was like a 
little child in people’s hearts.” 

Then the lady said: “Well, what 
did you do ?” 



SCIENCE AND THE RESURRECTION 


249 


The little Zulu boy, with shining 
face, said: “I opened my heart, and 
let the little Babe Christ come in; and 
He came in, and my heart closed over 
Him, and He is inside.” 

He went back to his people, that 
little heathen boy, and he was cruelly 
ill-treated by them because of his 
love for Jesus. They tried to get 
the idea of the Christ-Child out of 
his head; but they did not succeed. 
He kept saying, “He is inside, and 
you cannot get Him out, and you 
must be very careful not to hurt 
Him.” 

I think that is the best way to be 
sure of the resurrection is to have 
Jesus as Saviour in your heart. Then 
you know that He has risen from the 
dead, because He lives in you. 

It is recorded of a certain Spartan 
in olden times that he tried hard to 
make a corpse stand; but utterly fail¬ 
ing to do so, in spite of every effort, 
he said: “I see; it wants something 
within.” Now you have what that 
corpse wanted—life, But I want you 
to ask God to give you Himself, and 
then He will breathe into you His own 
life, and, like Him, you will never die. 
— Rev. James Learmount. 

1024. “If Christ Be Not Raised.” 

If Christ be not raised, your faith 
is vain.—1 Corinthians 15: 17 - 

How vain is our faith if the Christ be not 
risen; 

How dark; is the tomb if the Lord is 
still there 1 

How heavy our burden of grief and trans¬ 
gression, 

How deep our despair 1 

Oh, justified faith in a finished salvation! 
Oh, sure resurrection that comforts our 
woes! 

Oh, glorious light in the valley of shadow,— 
Because Jesus rose! 

—Annie Johnson Flint. 

1025. God’s Resurrection Energy. 

Electricity lay around us for ages 
when we were ignorant of its presence 
and knew not how to use it. So God’s 
resurrection energy lies around us, 


waiting for us to avail ourselves of 
it.— B. Hovey. 

1026. Science and the Resurrection. 

“Why should it be thought a thing 
incredible with you, that God should 
raise the dead?” Such was the 
question of Paul in his day. With 
the light that comes from the dis¬ 
coveries of modern science, the ques¬ 
tion may be repeated with emphasis. 

The Rev. W. H. Fitchett, D.D., the 
well-known Australian author, has 
intimated that the latest discovery 
of science is what may be called 
wonders and glories hidden in infin¬ 
itesimal things. In an address de¬ 
livered, before the General Con¬ 
ference of the Methodist Church of 
Australia, he said: “I had the 
pleasure, when in London, of making 
the acquaintance of Leonard Huxley, 
the son and biographer of the famous 
scientist. I reminded him one day of 
the mysterious energies of radium; 
how a microscopic speck of radium 
can pour out a spray of fiery particles 
—a stream of electrical energy—suf¬ 
ficient to ring a bell for thirty 
thousand years. I asked him whether 
that was not a new argument, from 
the scientific side, for the doctrine of 
immortality. Is it credible that who¬ 
ever made the universe which would 
run through thirty thousand years, 
would give to the intellect that could 
measure the force of that radium only 
three score years and ten? And my 
friend admitted the logic. There is 
no answer to it.” 

Another writer has recently re¬ 
minded us that the wings of certain 
moths and butterflies, under a power¬ 
ful microscope, show forty-two 
millions of brilliantly tinted scales to 
the square inch. “But if such large¬ 
ness of labor, such expenditure of 
thought, is lavished as if for very 
pleasure; without effort, on creatures 
whose glimmer of consciousness lasts 
but for a summer, what beauty of 



250 


IN HEAVEN ON CREDIT 


body, mind and soul, may not belong 
to us, who are the final result of the 
cosmic purpose as related to this earth; 
us in whom creative wisdom has its 
delight; us, who, being made a little 
lower than the angels, are crowned 
with honor!” 

These are statements well worth 
considering. Possibly, after reading 
them, we may feel disposed to ex¬ 
claim : “With God all things are 
possible.”— Rev. W. T. Hart, D.D. 

1027. In Heaven on a Credit. 

Without the resurrection of Christ 
mankind is indeed eternally doomed. 
The late Dr. B. H. Carroll, in his ex¬ 
positions of The Four Gospels, in the 
Interpretation of the English Bible 
series, pictures the Transfiguration. 
He hears Moses remind the Lord that 
his body was buried on Mt. Nebo, and 
add: “Unless you die, that body will 
never be raised.” He hears Elijah 
say: “I am in heaven on a credit— 
the credit is on your promise to pay.” 
Moses and Elijah certainly had a 
lively personal interest in the subject 
of that conversation—“his decease 
which he should accomplish at Jeru¬ 
salem.” There are thousands of those 
whom we “have loved long since and 
lost a while” who are “in heaven on 
a credit”—and our certainty of both 
seeing them and joining them is Jesus’ 
glorious fulfillment of his promise to 
pay .—Sunday School Times. 

1028. The Big Outcome of The 

Big Belief. 

I was reading the other day a de¬ 


scription of what was claimed to be 
the biggest hole ever made in the 
ground, bigger than the Panama Canal 
or the largest coal-mine ever exca¬ 
vated. I don’t remember now what 
it was, and it doesn’t matter, because 
it wasn’t true. The biggest hole ever 
made in the ground was when the 
stone was rolled away and Jesus came 
out of Joseph’s tomb. It was not so 
big when Joseph had it made for his 
own family; but, when the Son of 
God came out of it, if the Atlantic 
and Pacific oceans could have been 
drained dry the same night, their 
empty beds wouldn’t have been a pin¬ 
prick to the empty grave. Because, 
don’t you see? You and I were in 
that tomb potentially, and all the rest 
of creation; and we all came out of 
it with Jesus Christ, victors over death 
and the grave.— Rev. John F. Cowan, 
D.D. 

1029. Plant Me and See. 

“O little bulb, uncouth, 

Ragged and rusty brown, 

Have you some dew of youth? 

Have you a crimson gown?” 

"Plant me and see 
What I shall be,— 

God’s fine surprise 
Before your eyesl” 

"A body wearing out, 

A crumbling house of clay, 

O, agony of doubt. 

And darkness and dismay I 
Trust God and see 
What I shall be,— 

His best surprise. 

Before ycur eyesl” 

1030. Inscription on Tomb. 

“The inn of a traveller on the way 
to Jerusalem.”—Inscription on the 
grave of Dean Alford. 


XIV. ARBOR DAY. 


(Observed in the Spring, Varying in Different States. Day for Planting 
Trees and Fostering Preservation of Forests.) 


1031. A Warning. 

There are certain countries and 
provinces of other lands which were 
once fertile and prosperous which are 
now barren and poverty stricken 


through the loss of their forests, 
Syria, Dalmatia, and other sections— 
once garden spots of the Roman 
Empire, are little else than great stone- 
piles with here and there a pocket 



NEAR TO NATURE’S HEART 


251 


of soil and a struggling vine or wilted 
olive tree. China, with all her other 
resources, has no timber. Her forests 
were destroyed generations ago. This 
accounts for her terrible floods and in 
part for her great famines. 

1032. What do We Plant? 

What do we plant, when we plant the tree? 
We plant the ship which will cross the sea. 
We plant the mast to carry the sails; 

We plant the planks to withstand the 

gales— 

The keel, the keelson, and beam and knee; 
We plant the ship when we plant the tree. 
What do we plant, when we plant the tree? 
We plant the houses for you and me. 

We plant the rafters, the shingles, the 

floors; 

We plant the studding, the lath, the doors, 
The beams and siding, all parts that be; 
We plant the house when we plant the 
tree. 

What do we plant, when we plant the tree? 
A thousand things that daily we see. 

We plant the spire that out-towers the 

crag. 

We plant the staff for our country’s flag; 
We plant the shade, from the hot sun free; 
We plant all these when we plant the tree. 

—Henry Abbey. 

1033. Near to Nature’s Heart. 

As the friends of an author most 
thoroughly comprehend his writings, 
so they best understand nature who are 
closest to nature’s God. 

1034. Love of Nature. 

There are persons, doubtless, who 
prefer the scenic effects of the stage 
to the glories of the sunset; the antics 
of a comedian to the gambols of a 
squirrel or the flight of a bird. Such 
persons have a defective sense of 
relative values, and eyes and ears un¬ 
educated to the finer things of life. 
They must ever look outside of them¬ 
selves for entertainment, and when 
their taste becomes jaded with the 
performances of the stage, they will 
have no deep resources of their own 
to draw upon. One of the blessings 
of a love of nature is that it lasts, 
and grows by what it feeds upon. 
Nobody ever gets tired of sunsets, 
or the flowers, or the changing lights 
of the ocean, or the varied greens of 
the trees and the grass.— IV. T. Ellis. 


1035. Beauty in the Miniature. 

There is often a beauty in the 
miniature portrait which the great 
canvas lacks; and there is a charm 
about a single flower, or bit of lichen 
on the tree, which even a lovely land¬ 
scape may not impart. God is an 
artist who delights in details. The 
perfection which he lavishes upon the 
lowliest of the flowers in the heart 
of the forest caries its own sermon 
on work that is not mere eye service: 

1036. Sheds Its Skin. 

Unlike most trees which shed their 
leaves when they want to dress up, 
the eucalyptus holds fast to its fruit 
and its foliage and sheds its skin. The 
outer bark comes dropping off in 
great strips and slabs, and a fresh 
skin very speedily grows out, making 
the big tree look as good, if not 
better, than it would have if it had 
dropped its pretty green leaves. The 
Eucalyptus Amygdalina is the giant 
of the tree world, its towering 
branches even overtopping those of 
the great sequoias of the West. It 
often attains a height of four hundred 
and eighty feet, with a girth of two 
hundred feet. The eucalyptus tree 
grows so rapidly and its wood is 
so beautiful that it is regarded as 
one of the most valuable trees. 

Grow. Grow tall. Grow straight. 
Grow for service.— H. 

1037. Loving the Trees. 

I think that I shall never see 
A poem lovely as a tree. 

A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed 
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; 
A tree that looks at God all day, 

And lifts her leafy arms to pray; 

A tree that may in Summer, wear 
A nest of robins in her hair; 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain. 

Who intimately lives with rain. 

Poems are made by fools like me. 

But only God can make a tree. 

So writes Joyce Kilmer, he who 
died on the battlefields of tree-dead 
France. 



252 


VOICES OE NATURE 


And surely God must have had a 
joy in making trees; such joy as a 
poet has in making poems in his small 
way; and surely God must have 
wanted to call the attention of the 
world to his trees and to their spir¬ 
itual lessons, for so many times in 
the Book of books He puts it into 
the hearts of those who speak and 
write his words down to use trees 
as figures of speech to make em¬ 
phatic or tender, or pertinent, some 
great spiritual truth that he wishes 
to convey to mankind down through 
the coming generations. 

And so God made his trees not only 
to be useful to mankind with their 
food and shade, but he also made 
them to teach mankind spiritual truths. 

The Bible, from beginning to end, 
is full of trees. The Bible is like a 
great highway from the beginning of 
time until the end of Revelation, and 
all along that great highway from 
the Atlantic Coast of Genesis and the 
Creation, to the Pacific Coast of the 
Book of Revelation the great highway 
runs, and along its sides, shading the 
humanity that walks its myriad way, 
feeding and comforting, are trees; 
trees of every kind.— Rev. W . L. 
Stidger. 

1038. The Cow Tree. 

The cow tree of the far East is one 
of those strange freaks of nature 
that form one of man’s greatest bless¬ 
ings in a dry and desert land. It is 
neither large nor pretty, but very use¬ 
ful for a thirst-parched traveler, for 
by piercing the thick stem he can 
obtain a fluid that very much re¬ 
sembles milk. 

Be a tree of life to others.— H. 

1039. Voices of Nature. 

God speaks with many tongues. 
Every language used by man is also 
his speech. So is the song of the 
birds, the ripple of the waters, the 
soughing of the trees, the music of 


the spheres. So rich and varied is the 
message of God to the human soul 
that all the varied voices of nature 
are needed to convey even a measure 
of its fulness.— IV. T. Ellis. 

1040. A Handy Tree. 

Did you ever hear of a thread-and- 
needle tree? It must be rather a 
handy tree to have growing in the back 
yard, especially when there are boys 
in the house with buttons coming off 
about every other minute. 

This strange tree grows in nearly 
all tropical countries, and in some 
places nearer home where the climate 
is warm. It gets its name by which 
we know it from the curious forma¬ 
tion of its leaves. At the tip of the 
leaf there is a sharp thorn, which is 
the needle. If you grasp it firmly and 
pull it out, there you are with a 
needle already threaded for your sew¬ 
ing. This fiber thread is very strong 
and the Mexicans use it for weaving 
a coarse kind of cloth, as well as for 
sewing. 

The leaves of the tree they use for 
roofing their houses, instead of tiles, 
and a fine roof it makes them, strong 
and waterproof—just the sort of roof 
they need when the rain comes down 
in sheets. 

1041. The Explosion of a Flower. 

Sometimes the floral spathe of a 
great palm tree will fly open with 
a sound like a detonation in a mine. 
Such an event occurred in the 
botanical garden in Algiers recently. 
The spathe, nearly three feet long, 
was projected to a great distance 
and for some moments the head 
of the palm tree was wreathed 
with golden dust formed of the debris 
of the flower. The sun’s heat had 
roasted the flower to the color of rust. 
The director of the garden explained 
the explosion as being due to a fer¬ 
mentation in the flower caused by 



GOD OP THE OPEN AIR 


253 


the extraordinary dryness of the air. 
A violent sirocco had just passed. 

1042. Luminous Plants. 

Several species of moss—a lily, a 
poppy, and a nasturtium—are luminous 
at night. 

1043. Plant a Tree. 

Give fools their gold and knaves their 
power; 

Let fortune’s bubble rise and fall; 

Who sows a field or trains a flower 
Or plants a tree is more than all. 

—Whittier. 

1044. Some Queer Trees. 

Among the curiosities of tree life 
is the sofar, or whistling tree, of 
Nubia. When the winds blow over 
this tree it gives out flutelike sounds, 
playing away to the wilderness for 
hours at a time strange weird melodies. 
It is the spirits of the dead singing 
among the branches, the natives say, 
but the white man says that the 
sounds are due to a myriad of small 
holes which an insect bores in the 
spine of the branches. 

The weeping tree of the Canary 
islands is another arboreal freak. 
This tree in the driest weather will 
rain down showers from its leaves, 
and the natives gather up the water 
from the pool formed at the foot 
of the trunk and find it fresh and pure. 
The tree exudes the water from in¬ 
numerable pores situated at the base 
of the leaves. 

1045. A Tree That Grows Paper. 

The dagger palm which grows in 
Jamaica, and reaches a height of eight 
or ten feet, is remarkable for the fact 
that it has paper growing on its leaves. 
The outer leaves are of no use; only 
those from the heart of the palm yield 
paper, which is a fine smooth sub¬ 
stance, something like tissue, and 
which can be written on. Each leaf 
gives a separate piece of paper from 
seven to nine inches long and from 
two to three inches wide, according 


to the size of the palm. The paper 
is used for making hats, photograph 
frames, flowers and feathers. 

1046. The Banana Tree. 

The banana tree is a wonderful 
thing. Every part of it serves some 
good use. The long leaves work up 
into fine excelsior. The juice, being 
rich in tannin, furnishes a fine in¬ 
delible ink and a good shoe polish. 
The stems yield a first-class quality 
of hemp, from which can be made 
lace handkerchiefs, cords and rope, to 
say nothing of mats and brushes. The 
oil is used for gilding. Banana flour, 
of nutritious quality, is made by grind¬ 
ing the dried fruit. In fact, it is said 
that the natives of Jamaica could 
scarcely exist without the banana tree. 

1047. God o£ the Open Air. 

These are the things I prize 
And hold of dearest worth: 

Tight of the sapphire skies. 

Peace of the silent hills, 

Music of birds, murmur of little rills. 
Shadows of cloud that swiftly pass. 

And after showers, 

The smell of flowers 
And of the good, brown earth— 

And best of all, along the way, friendship 
and mirth. 

So let me keep 

These treasures of the humble heart 
In true possession, owning them by love; 
And when at last I can no longer move 
Among them freely, but must part 
From the green fields and waters dear. 
Let me not creep 
Into some darkened room and hide 
From all that makes the world so bright 
and dear; 

But throw the windows wide 
To welcome in the light; 

And while I clasp a well-beloved hand. 

Let me once more have sight 
Of the deep sky and the far-smiling land— 
Then gently fall on sleep, 

And breathe my body back to nature’s care. 
My spirit out to Thee, God of the open air. 

—Henry van Dyke. 

1048. The Greedy Tree. 

A tree that seems to suffer very 
much from greediness is the mata- 
polo. This very genuine freak of 
nature thrives in Guatemala, where it 
is said the soil is so rich that vegeta¬ 
tion will grow one-half inch in twenty- 
four hours, and that in eighteen 



254 


GOOD SEEDS AND GOOD DEEDS 


months a banana tree will attain the 
height of forty feet. In its early life 
the matapolo begins to grow around 
another tree, and it goes on growing 
around its victim until it kills it by 
absorbing its vitality. This destruc¬ 
tive habit caused the matapolo to be 
known by the natives as “the kill tree." 

Let us avoid selfishness, greediness, 
the self-seeking that kills others in 
their hopes.— H. 

1049. The Trees. 

The trees lift up their laureled heads, 
With joy they clap their hands, 

And murmur praise and thanks to Him 
Who rules the sea and lands. 

God thought a blessing out for man. 

His thought became a tree, 

In season yielding wholesome fruits. 

Till all God’s bounty see. 

By millions, give them root and air 
For birds and beast and man. 

Till they are growing everywhere 
By the Creator’s plan. 

In all the highways plant the trees. 

In lanes and acres broad. 

That through thy kindness men be moved 
To give thanks unto God. 

— Z. 1. Davis, 

1050. Loving Trees; Loving Life. 

Trees have been a favorite theme of 
poets. Roderick Dhu writes of the 
evergreen pine; Grey, in his “Elegy,” 
of the yew tree’s shade and of the 
rugged elm; Bryant of the apple tree; 
Longfellow of the birch and the cedar 
in his “Evangeline,” and Bayard 
Taylor of the palm tree. 

Samuel Walter Foss says of the 
tree: 

‘'Who loves a tree he loves the life 
That springs in star and clod; 

He loves the love that gilds the clouds 
And greens the April sod. 

He loves the wide beneficence, 

His soul takes hold on God.” 

— Rev. B. W. Caswell. 

1051. Plant a Tree. 

“Jock, when ye hae naethin’ else 
to do ye may aye stickin’ in a tree; 
it will be growin’, Jock, when ye’re 
sleepin’,” said the old laird in “The 
Heart of Midlothian,” and this advice 


is just as good to-day for every citizen 
who has access to a bit of ground.— 
Atlanta Constitution. 

1052. Lesson From a Tree. 

There is a singular tree in Cuba— 
the yaguey tree—that affords a strik¬ 
ing illustration of the progress and 
fatality of sin. This tree begins to 
grow at the top or midway of another 
tree. The seed is carried by a bird, 
or wafted by the wind, and, falling 
into some moist, branching part, takes 
root and speedily begins to grow. It 
sends along a kind of thin string-like 
root down the body of the tree that 
is occupied, which is soon followed by 
others. In course of time these root- 
lings strike the ground, and growth 
immediately commences upward. New 
rootlings continue to be formed and 
get strength, until the one tree grows 
as a net with the other inside. The 
outside one surrounds and presses the 
inner, like a huge girdle of snakes, 
strangling its life and augmenting its 
own power. At last the tree within is 
killed, and the parasite that has taken 
possession becomes itself a tree. What 
a picture of the enslaving and fatal 
power of sin as it attaches itself to a 
man, and with his consent is allowed 1 
It may have a small beginning, but 
soon binds him as with cords, gains 
increasing mastery, and presses upon 
his very life. He is held in fetters 
by its powers, till at last the tyrant 
overcomes the victim and triumphs 
over its prey .—Reformed Church 
Messenger. 

1053. Need of Sunshine. 

In some places flowers will not grow 
because they do not get sun enough. 
Does this not suggest the dangers of 
overcrowding in cities? 

1054. Good Seeds and Good Deeds. 

The seeds of some trees are ex¬ 
tremely small. They are adapted to 
transportation by wind and water. 



THE LEGEND OF A FLOWER 


255 


Every spring, for instance, along our 
northern streams the air is filled with 
flying seeds of poplars and of willows. 
The seeds of the pine, the maple, the 
birch, the elm, are likewise so dis¬ 
tributed. In time of storm the winds 
will often carry such seeds to dis¬ 
tances almost unlimited. On the other 
hand, the seeds of some most common 
species are carried by the birds and 
dropped to come up in unexpected 
places. Such are the seeds of the 
barberry, red cedar, and even of the 
oak, surprising to relate. A bluejay 
has been known to carry the acorns 
of a bur oak to a distance of three 
miles, dropping the nuts all the way 
along at various intervals. It is there¬ 
fore not difficult to see that even the 
most surprising cases of the upspring- 
ing of forests may yet be explained 
by references to the ordinary sequence 
of seed and shoot. 

And good deeds may be small, but 
they multiply and grow and fill the 
earth with blessing.— H. 

1055. The Legend of a Flower. 

There is a beautiful legend that 
long ago when nature’s great loom 
had ceased its spinning and the flowers 
blossomed, each one was assigned by 
the Creator its place to live and grow. 
Bands of buttercups trooped in yellow 
waves to the meadows, the silent lily’s 
pallid cheek was pressed close to the 
heaving breast of the water. Every¬ 
where bright-winged flowers took up 
their stations on the waiting earth— 
everywhere except on the lonely hills. 
Then he who named their places asked 
softly, “Who will be content to dwell 
in these barren spots ?” A shy, 
unheeded blossom answered, “Where’er 
thou sendest me I will abide.” Then 
said the Creator “Thy race shall be 
forever blessed, because thou art 
content with a lowly place.” And 
still on the tiny, coral-tinted flower 
that blessing abides. Every spring 
many people eagerly search the hill¬ 


sides for the fragrant blossoms of 
the humble little trailing arbutus. 

1056. A Useful Tree. 

When you put on a pair of over¬ 
shoes or look at a rubber tire do you 
ever think of the rubber tree which 
gives its sap for these useful articles ? 

In Mexico the rubber tree once 
grew wild in great forests of rubber 
trees. About a hundred years ago, 
it is said, the Spanish government 
sent a man to Mexico to study its 
vegetable productions, and he dis¬ 
covered how valuable is the juice, 
sap or milk of' the rubber tree* 
whichever you wish to call it. The 
natives soon learned its value, and 
they used up the tree, as we have 
used up our forests, and did not 
think of the time when there would 
be no more wild trees to furnish 
the rubber sap. Recently some men 
have bought land and planted rubber 
trees. 

In the cultivated forests of rubber 
trees the trees are planted to grow 
in regular order, and the young 
shoots are cut down or transplanted. 
The method of gathering the sap 
is not unlike our method of gathering 
maple sap, and before the rubber sap 
is ready for market it must be boiled 
as our sap is, to get rid of the water, 
and pressed into cakes. Then the 
cakes are packed into bags and 
shipped to manufacture the many 
things into which rubber enters. The 
milk or sap of the rubber tree is 
white. 

Let the rubber tree teach us Arbor 
Day lessons. One lesson: Grow. 
Another: Be useful. Be full of sap. 
—H. 

1057. Church Neglecters Not Wor¬ 

shipers. 

“The groves were God’s first 
temples,” but not as his latest nor his 
best. When a woman gave the com¬ 
mon, flippant excuse for not going 



256 


OUT IN THE FIELDS WITH GOD 


to church, “I worship God in nature,” 
a friend shrewdly asked, “What do 
you do when it rains ?” It is common 
sense and not narrow dogmatism 
which says that on the Lord’s day 
golf links do not link an immortal 
soul to its Creator; and tennis courts 
are no substitute for the courts of 
the Most High; and the fields are 
not the “green pastures” of the 
psalmist; nor the fishing streams 
“the still waters.” There is much 
talk of keeping the Sabbath out of 
doors that is disingenuous pretense. 
They who would worship God in the 
prescribed way on God’s day should 
be found in God's house with God’s 
people.— W. T. Ellis. 

1058. Out in the Fields with God. 

The little cares that fretted me, 

I lost them yesterday, 

Among the fields, above the sea. 

Among the winds at play; 

Among the lowing of the herds. 

The rustling of the trees. 

Among the singing of the birds. 

The humming of the bees. 

The foolish fears of what may pass, 

I cast them all away 
Among the clover-scented grass. 

Among the new-mown hay; 

Among the rustling of the corn. 

Where drowsy poppies nod. 

Where ill thoughts die and good are born, 
Out in the fields with God. 

—Author unknown. 

1059. The Banyan Tree. 

The banyan tree is a forest king 
that has a flourishing family growing 
all about it. This tree does not plant 
seeds, but sends out vigorous roots 
from its branches. They go rapidly 
down to the earth, plunge in, and are 
soon stout trunks, whose branches 
are in their turn sending forth roots. 
These queer trees will go on adding 
to their parent’s stem until one tree 
will be, in reality, a small forest with 
vast walks and dells all under one 
spreading shelter. Let us try to 
multiply ourselves in good and in 
doing good.— H. 


1060. The Legend of the Mignon¬ 
ette. 

Once upon a time there lived a 
king and queen who had a daughter 
who was the most beautiful princess 
ever seen. She was so amiable and 
good that people forgot how beautiful 
she was and spoke only of her good¬ 
ness. She had long, golden curls; 
but when the maid combed them 
and the fine hair became tangled, the 
princess never cried nor became cross. 
When the king and queen had to 
go on long trips, the princess did 
not cry nor pout to go with them. 
She was so lovely and good that 
the queen of the fairies heard of her 
and determined to reward her. So 
she went to the palace and entered 
the presence of the princess. 

“I have come to tell you,” said 
the fairy, “that I have heard of 
your beauty and kindness and have 
come to reward you. Here are three 
wishes. Choose which of the three 
you want, and it shall be yours, 
always. First, you may be a bird, 
to go from one end of the earth to the 
other with no one to say nay or in¬ 
terfere. Second, you may be a butter¬ 
fly, with no care in the world, only 
to be gay and happy and beautiful and 
to charm those who wish to be 
happy during a summer day. Third, 
you may be a flower whose sweet 
perfume will cheer those who are 
unhappy, soothe them when they are 
ill, and be a cheerful companion 
always.” 

Then the princess said: “If I 
were a bird, I might fly too far 
from my home and friends and forget 
to return, so I will not be a bird. 
If I were a butterfly I might think 
more of my pleasure than of my 
duty, and my beauty might cause me 
to be vain. So I will be the flower 
to help and comfort those who may 
be in need.” Then the fairy queen 



INDUSTRIOUS NATURE 


257 


waved her wand, and the princess 
became the flower mignonette. 

1061. The Time for Planting. 

Every tree has a time for planting. 
As a matter of fact trees may be 
moved at any time, but it is much 
safer and much more convenient to 
handle them when the leaves are off. 
In fall or early spring the bark 
adheres more tightly and is there¬ 
fore not so liable to injury. The 
tree is resting. Here, however, is 
an elm transplanted in August grow¬ 
ing well, but undoubtedly retarded by 
the change. Probably, all things 
considered, the spring is the best 
omened season for the planting of 
trees. 

Every good grace of character has 
a time for planting. The best time 
is in the springtime of life.— H . 

1062. Industrious Nature. 

For walnuts, oaks, hickories, chest¬ 
nuts, the only fortunate method, 
or at least the surest method, is to 
plant the seeds where you wish the 
trees. Would you learn how nature 
plants such seeds? Visit the forests 
in early autumn, and you may easily 
discover. She throws her walnuts 
to the groud with the falling leaves. 
These cover the seeds, but by no 
means deeply. The soft husks rot 
away, and the frosts of winter freeze 
the hard nuts through and through, 
spreading but not loosening a seam 
that fast binds the two halves to¬ 
gether. The thawing of spring com¬ 
pletes the work, sets free the halves 
of the otherwise impierceable shell 
and permits the emergence of the 
imprisoned shoot. The Tiusk probably 
still holds enough to keep everything 
yet together until possibly a spring 
freshet dashing by over the alluvial 
bed where the parent walnut stands 
bears the germinating nut away to 
leave it buried farther down in some 
bank of different sand, Here the 
17 


young tree makes a start in life, 
sends up a slender stem, sends down 
a long stout root, to stay waiting 
the demands of the upper world 
when these shall come, as come at 
length they will, from spreading 
branch and leaf. Perchance there is 
no freshet to carry the nut down the 
stream. Possibly a hungry squirrel 
carries it in the opposite direction, 
only to leave it forgotten at the last 
in some hollow stump or by some 
rotting log. No matter. The process 
is just the same. So nature plants a 
walnut. 

How industrious and provident and 
wise is Dame Nature in her oper¬ 
ations? How many the lessons she 
may teach us !— H. 

1063. My Garden. 

A garden is a lovesome thing, God wotl 

Rose plot. 

Fringed pool, 

Fern’d grot— 

The veriest school 

Of peace; and yet the fool 
Contends that God is not— 

Not God! in gardens! when the eve ia 
cool? 

Nay, but I have a sign;. 

’Tis very sure God walks in mine. 

—Thomas Edward Brown. 

1064. Indian Legend of the Maple. 

The maple has so many legends 
that one of them at least deserves 
mention. Hiawatha is said, among 
other things, to have given maple 
sugar to the people, though this is 
disputed by others, who say a lazy 
squaw, to avoid getting water used 
the syrup to cook in, and so dis¬ 
covered a new confection which must 
not be taken as an excuse for laziness 
however. But Hiawatha’s exploits 
were many: he gave thorns to the 
roses because he loved them, to pre¬ 
vent animals from molesting them; 
he stole the first tobacco from a giant, 
and the smoke of it, as he blows it 
about, makes the haze of Indian sum¬ 
mer. The blood from sundry cuts 
ip his flesh flowed to stain the red 





258 


LEGEND OF THE DANDELION 


willows, and the blisters from his 
sun-burned back became lichens on 
trees and rocks.— B. Young. 

1065. The “Angry Tree.” 

In Idaho there exists a species of 
the acacia tree which is entitled to be 
classed as one of the wonders of 
plant life. This tree attains a height 
of about eight feet. When full 
grown it closes its leaves together 
in coils each day at sunset, and curls 
its twigs to the shape of pigtails. 

When the tree has thus settled 
itself for its night’s sleep, it is said 
that if touched it will flutter as if 
agitated or impatient at the disturb¬ 
ance. The oftener, it is averred, the 
foliage is molested, the more violent 
will become the shaking of the 
branches. Finally, it is alleged, if 
the shaking be continued, the tree will 
at length emit a nauseating odor 
quite sufficient to induce a headache 
in the case of the person disturbing 
the tree. 

In Idaho it is called the “angry 
tree,” and it is said it was discovered 
by men who, on making a camp for 
the night, placed one end of a canvas 
covering over one of the sensitive 
bushes, using it for a support. 
Immediately the tree began to jerk 
its branches sharply. The motion 
continued with increasing “nervous¬ 
ness” until at last came a sickening 
odor that drove the tired campers 
to a more friendly location. 

Curiosity prompted an investiga¬ 
tion. One of the “angry trees” was 
dug up and thrown to one side. 
Immediately upon removing it from 
the ground it is said that the tree 
opened its leaves, its twigs lost their 
pigtails, and for something over an 
hour and a half the outraged branches 
showed their indignation by a series 
of quakings which grew weaker and 
weaker, and ceased when the foliage 
had become limp and withered, 


1066. Legend of the Dandelion. 

The dandelion about whose youth¬ 
ful gold so many pretty legends have 
been woven, has inspired a charming 
Algonquin tale of the love of the 
south wind for the flower which is 
the symbol of the sun. Shawondas- 
see, the south wind, likes to lie in 
the shadow of live oaks and mag¬ 
nolias, inhaling the ferfume of 
the blossoms, so that when he 
breathes you can perceive the odor. 

One day he saw in the distance a 
girl—a slender girl, with yellow hair. 
Day after day he looked, and still 
she stood in the bright prairie. But 
one morning, alas! when he looked 
again the maid was gone, and in her 
place stood a faded woman whose 
crown of gold had changed into grey. 
“Ah,” said Shawondassee, “my brother, 
the North Wind, has been here 
during the night. He has put his 
cruel hand upon her head and 
whitened it with frost.” And he 
sighed, so that the white hair fell 
from her as down, and she was gone. 
Others like her come every spring, 
but the South Wind still sighs for 
the girl he first saw with the yellow 
hair. 

1067. Be Sweet. 

An old legend tells of the corn 
and lily which once found themselves 
growing side by side. “One cannot 
earn a living by just being sweet,” 
said the corn to the lily. The lily’s 
only reply was a smile. Soon after 
Jesus passed by and they both heard 
him say to his disciples: “Children, 
the life is more than meat. Con¬ 
sider the lilies, how beautiful they 
grow.” It takes no argument to 
prove that God loves the beautiful, 
or that he has planted within human 
hearts a love for the beautiful. The 
question for us to consider is this, 
“Is my life taking on the beauty 
that God designs it should ?”—Record 
of Christian Work. 



LOVE OF NATURE 


259 


1068. Love of Nature. 

A friend has bought a farm where 
his family spends the summers, and 
this farm is the recreation and pleas¬ 
ure of the whole household. Every 
yard of soil, every big rock, every 
tree, and hundreds of the individual 
plants are known to these lovers of 
nature. They are ever putting in a 
new laurel here, a new fern there: 
an orchard at this point, a vineyard 
at that. This great tree is trimmed, 
to afford more sun to its neighbor; 
those few pines are cut away in order 
to make a vista up to the tennis 
court. The children call attention 
to the music of the brook as if it 
were a new talking machine. The 
whistling of the partridges is talked 
about as if it were some musical in¬ 
strument. In a word, the family 
really enjoy their farm for itself, 
and they refuse to have it made over 
into an “estate,” with all kinds of 
artificial improvements about it. 
Thoughts of God seem easy and 
natural so close to his handiwork, 
and it is not strange that this friend 
gathers congenial spirits every year 
for a few days of Bible study and 
spiritual inspiration. In God’s school 
of the out of doors they think His 
thoughts after Him.— W. T. Bllis. 

1069. Feaks in Treedom. 

One of the freakiest things in a 
forest is the heath tree. This grows 
among the mountains near the Equa¬ 
tor, and thrives at an elevation of 
eight or ten thousand feet. Many 
heath trees are eighty feet in height, 
and look very much like telegraph- 
poles dressed up to attend a “tacky 
party.” They have a big bunch of 
leaves at the tiptop of their crest 
and at intervals along the bare trunk 
and thick girdles of moss. These 
many belts are of every known color 
and the effect is decidedly startling, 
for the trees seem to have decked 


themselves in gay calico scraps from 
some grandmother’s piece-bag. 

The bottle tree of Australia is the 
heath tree’s equal in peculiarity of 
shape. A bottle tree is about sixty 
feet high, with branches jutting out 
near the top. Just below the branches 
the trunk swells out in a most aston¬ 
ishing fashion, often reaching a cir¬ 
cumference of thirty-five feet, and 
giving the tree the appearance of a 
very fat jug. This tree is always 
found in the company of five or six 
others of its own kind, and the first 
time a traveler sees one of these 
family groups he is astonished be¬ 
yond expression to find several 
monster bottles there in the depths 
of the forest, each with a big bunch 
of thickly leaved branches growing 
out of its cork.— H. M. Hobson. 

1070. Indian Legend of Maize or 
Corn. 

The maize or Indian corn was 
commonly believed by the American 
Indian to be of divine origin, and 
the food of the Great Spirit who 
created the earth. Two legends of 
the Iroquois tell another story, both 
abounding in graceful imagery. One 
is that a chief, having climbed a 
mountain where he might be alone 
with the Great Spirit, begged for dif¬ 
ferent food for his people, for they 
wearied of meat and berries, and 
longed for the food of the gods. 
The Great Spirit bade him go to the 
plains with his wife and children in 
the moon of rains, and wait for three 
suns. This the chief did, and while 
waiting fell asleep. When the rest 
of the tribe came to seek them they 
had all changed to corn. The prayer 
had been answered. The other tells 
how a brave, for love of a beautiful 
maiden, slept in the wood near her 
wigwam, to guard her from ma¬ 
rauders or dangers of the night. One 
summer eve he was awakened by 
soft footfalls leaving her lodge, and 



26 o 


FOREST PRESERVATION 


springing up he saw that she was 
walking in her sleep. He followed, 
but the faster he pursued the faster 
she ran, till at last in a field he over¬ 
took her and clasped her in his arms. 
It was another version of Daphne 
and Apollo—for to his astonishment 
it was a plant and not a girl he held 
—a plant he had never seen before— 
(though not a laurel)—tall and grace¬ 
ful, with leaves as long as the pampa 
grass. The fright of waking far 
from home in the grasp of a brave, 
had caused the maiden to pray that 
she might be changed into a plant; 
and her hair became the silk and her 
lifted hands the ears that now are 
eaten.— B. Y. 

1071. The Sun of Righteousness. 

Some one has caught this beautiful 
message from the trees and flowers. 
As the natural sun does not shine 
for a few trees and flowers, but for 
the whole world, so the Sun of 
Righteousness shines not for a 
favored few, but for the world of 
human hearts. As the lonely pine 
on the mountain side looks up to 
the sun and cries, “Thou art my sun,” 
and the little meadow violet looks 
up and whispers, “Thou art my sun.” 
and each field of grass and grain upon 
a thousand hills looks up and softly 
breathes, “Thou art my sun,” so the 
high and low, the rich and poor, 
the Caucasian and African can look 
up to the Sun of Righteousness and 
say, “Thou art my Father .”—Record 
of Christian Work. 

1072. Without Trees a Ruin. 

Forestry is the name for planting 
the right kind of trees in the right 
time and place, taking care of them 
when they are planted and where 
they have grown naturally. Forestry 
is a great, necessary and noble trade. 
Without trees our country would be 
ruin. 

A great deal of excellent work can 


be done by the boys and girls in 
planting trees where they are needed 
and will be useful, and quite a great 
work can be done by taking care of 
trees already growing. A care that 
is very much neglected, especially 
about our homes, is in seeing to it 
that trees do not misshape and hurt 
one another by standing too close.— 
Charles Mcllvaine. 

1073. Trees as Friends. 

Everybody loves a tree. Trees are 

to us more like good friends and 
pleasant companions than any other 
growths from the earth. We re¬ 
member them, talk of them kindly, 
and, oh, what precious memories we 
have of some of them! We have 
our favorites among trees as we have 
among flowers. There is something 
noble, generous, about trees. They 
are always giving. 

We read of the history of trees 
as we do of men and women. They 
are often a part of tne history of a 
country. 

1074. Forest Preservation. 

“Preservin’ de trees would be easy,” 
said Uncle Eben, “if ev’rybody had 
de same hesitatin’ feelin’ toward a 
woodpile dat I always ’speriences.” 
No doubt Uncle Eben was lazy and 
laziness is no grace. But he had hold 
of one proper idea at least, that 
there is a duty we owe in the way of 
forest preservation. 

1075. The Season’s Loves. 

Who loves the trees best? 

“I,” said the Spring. 

Their leaves so beautiful 
To them I bring.” 

Who loves the trees best? 

“I,” Summer said. 

“I give them blossoms. 

White, yellow, red.”. 

Who loves the trees best? 

“I,” said the Fall. 

“I give luscious fruits, 

Bright tints to all.” 

Who loves the trees best? 

“I love them best,” 

Harsh . Winter answered, 

“I give t-hem rest.” 

—Unidentified. 



THE MURDERED TREES OF FRANCE 


261 


1076. Lightning’s Favorites. 

The lightning seems to have its 
favorite victims among trees, writes 
John Burroughs, in the Century 
Magazine. I never have known it 
to strike a beech tree. Hemlocks 
and pines are its favorites in my 
woods. In other regions the oak and 
the ash receive its attention. An oak 
on my father’s farm was struck twice 
in the course of many years, the 
last bolt proving fatal. The hard, 
or sugar maple, is frequently struck, 
but only in one instance have I 
known the tree to be injured. In 
this case a huge tree was simply de¬ 
molished. Usually the bolt comes 
down on the outside of the tree, 
making a mark as if a knife had 
clipped off the outer surfaces of the 
bark, revealing the reddish-yellow in¬ 
terior. But a few summers ago an 
usually large and solid sugar maple 
in my neighbor’s woods received a 
charge that simply reduced it to stove 
wood. Such a scene of utter de¬ 
struction I have never before wit¬ 
nessed in the woods. The tree was 
blown to pieces as if it had been filled 
with dynamite. Over a radius of 50 
or more feet the fragments of the 
huge trunk lay scattered. It was as 
if the bolt, baffled so long by the 
rough coat of mail of the maple, 
had at last penetrated it and had 
taken full satisfaction. The ex¬ 
plosive force probably came from 
the instantaneous vaporization of the 
sap of the tree by the bolt. 

1077. Trees That Bear Soap. 

Besides the trees that bear fruits 
there are those which produce gums 
for medicinal and industrial purposes, 
such as rubber. There are some that 
produce nuts for food. There are 
some trees whose sap is sugar. The 
latest thing in the tree line in this 
country is one whose nuts yield soap. 
It is a native of China. Bars of 


laundry soap do not grow on the 
branches, but if the hull be shredded 
and used with water it will produce 
a perfect lather which some authori¬ 
ties state has a cleansing quality 
superior to many of the manufac¬ 
tured soaps. The extract’s efficiency 
as a foam-producer makes it useful 
as an ingredient in carbonated bever¬ 
ages; the kernel yields an oil that 
can be used for cooking and as a 
substitute for olive oil. There is 
this reference to the use of soap in 
the olden times: “For he is like a 
refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap.” 
(Mai. 3:2.) 

1078. The Murdered Trees of 
France. 

We needs must think of the mur¬ 
dered trees of France, says the Red 
Cross Bulletin, when we look at our 
own blossoming orchards and the green 
gold of our forests smiling in the 
sunshine. Thankful, indeed, are we 
that the sacred temples of America’s 
quiet woods have been spared the des¬ 
ecration of the destroyer. 

Not satisfied with terrifying the de¬ 
fenseless civilians, burning cities, car¬ 
rying off grain and cattle, the Germans 
wreaked their spite on the trees of 
Northern France. Woodland and or¬ 
chard were laid low. Proud trees that 
stood sentinel along the white French 
roads—cherry, pear, peach and plum, 
whose delicate blossoms filled the 
spring with perfume, whose ripening 
fruit laughed in the sunshine, were 
cut down ruthlessly and left prostrate 
where they fell, or were Injured suf¬ 
ficiently to insure slow though certain 
death. The first national nursery was 
established at “Petit Trianon” for 
the cultivation of plants and trees for 
the restoration of the devastated re¬ 
gion, and nurseries have since been 
established throughout interior France 
that have furnished many thousands of 
trees and saplings that have been 
and are being transplanted through the 



262 


TREES OR TRIELES? 


northern departments, replacing those 
that have fallen. 

1079. Straight Trees. 

The superintendent was reviewing 
the lesson, and was telling of the op¬ 
portunity of service offered by the 
church. He had lived in northern 
Michigan in his youth, and remem¬ 
bered the great pine forests, seemingly 
endless, beautiful and challenging. 
“When men seek a perfectly straight 
tree,” he said “they always find it 
in the heart of the forest. Nearer the 
edges the trees are not apt to be so 
perfectly straight. In the thickest of 
the woods the trees seem to be closer 
together, pushing straight up to the 
sky.” 

“So,” said he, “we are held up 
straighter and stronger right in the 
heart of the church. Every life helps 
another. The nearer the outside we 
stand, the more apt we are to be 
crooked.” 

It is worth thinking over, isn’t it? 
The world’s life is not so straight as 
the life of the church. Environment 
counts. It is not the only factor, nor 
the biggest; but it cannot be ignored. 
We are able to do just as much for 
the world, yet able to live more se¬ 
curely when we accept the sheltering 
home of the church. We are held to 
the straight upward growth. We are 
spurred on by the fellowship of lives 
about us with similar aims. We 
stretch upward toward the goal.— Rev. 
Ernest B. Allen, D.D. 

1080. Trees or Trifles. 

There stand by the doorway of a 
store in a New York State city what, 
casually observed, seem to be two 
lovely little evergreen trees, but which 
upon closer inspection prove to be 
nothing other than colored shavings 
glued to rootless trunks and sapless 
branches. To make sure that the rains 
will not loosen the leaves nor the wind 
blow them away, a fine netting, like 


unto a woman’s hair net, worn for a 
similar purpose, is carefully placed 
about them. 

If you don’t come too close, you 
will never know it; but what is there 
to keep the whole world from coming 
close and seeing? 

How is it with you, trees or trifles ? 
“The righteous shall flourish like the 
palm tree,” the good Book says. It 
also tells us that hay and stubble shall 
burn. If your life needs a netting of 
fair speech to keep it shapely, and 
looks better across the street than 
close at hand, you are only a bunch 
of painted shavings.— Rev. Joseph B. 
Baker. 

1081. Plant a Tree. 

Lucy Larcom in her poem “Plant a 
Tree says: 

“He who plants a tree, 

He plants love, 

Tents of coolness spreading out above 

Wayfarers he may not live to see. 

Gifts that grow are best; 

Hands that bless are blest; 

Plant: Tife does the rest.” 

1082. The Legend of the Olive 

Tree. 

There was once an aged hermit in 
the Egyptian desert who thought it 
would be well with him if he had an 
olive tree near his cave. So he planted 
a little tree, and, thinking it might 
want water, he prayed to God for rain: 
so rain came and watered his olive 
tree. Then he thought that some 
warm sun to swell its buds would be 
advisable, so he prayed, and the sun 
shone out. 

Now the nursling looked feeble, and 
the old man deemed it would be well 
for the tree if frost were to come and 
brace it. He prayed for the frost, 
and hoar-frost settled that night on 
bar and beam. Next he believed a 
hot southerly wind would suit his tree, 
and after prayer the south wind blew 
upon his olive tree and—it died. 

Some little while after the hermit 
visited a brother hermit, and lol by 



OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 


263 


his cell door stood a flourishing olive 
tree. 

“How came that goodly plant there, 
brother?” asked the unsuccessful her¬ 
mit. 

“I planted it, and God blessed, and 
it grew.” 

“Ah, brother, I, too, planted an 
olive, and when I thought it wanted 
water I asked God to give it rain, 
and the rain came; and when I 
thought it wanted sun I asked, and the 
sun shone; and when I deemed it 
needed strengthening, I prayed and the 
frost came—God gave me all I de¬ 
manded for my tree as I saw fit, and 
yet it is dead.” 

“And I, brother,” replied the other 
hermit, “I left my tree in God’s hands, 
for he knew what it wanted better 
than I.” 

1083. Growing Umbrella Handles. 

A curious industry is carried on in 
a little village named Maule, which 
is situated near the city of Paris in 
France. Here are grown trees suitable 
for use as handles for umbrellas, 
walking sticks and mountain poles. 
Nearly five hundred acres are planted 
with ash, oak, chestnut and maple 
saplings. One year after planting 
these saplings are cut off near the root, 
so as to make them grow several 
branches, each of which may be used 
as a handle. The following year dif¬ 
ferent designs are traced with a sharp 
instrument upon the bark. When the 
bark is stripped off at the end of the 
next year these designs are found 
traced in the wood. After the 
branches have been cut, they are sent 
to the manufactures who make them 
into handles for umbrellas and canes. 

1084. Loss From Cutting Trees. 

Our reckless cutting away of the 
forests has destroyed the spongy 
ground which has been the great 
reservoirs of water, so that the rain 
rushes off the uplands into the valleys 


in great floods. Thus the soil is 
washed down from the mountains into 
the valleys, turning the mountain 
regions into vast gullies and burying 
the valley’s fertile soil. 

In addition, the steady water-power 
of many mills has been destroyed, and 
they have had to depend upon the more 
expensive steam. 

1085. Our National Forests. 

The American people take from 
their forests every year 22,000,000,- 
000 cubic feet of wood, worth about 
$ I >375>ooo,ooo. This would make a 
board walk a third of a mile wide 
clear around the earth at the equator. 

The French use each year twenty- 
five cubic feet of lunber for each 
person; the Germans, forty cubic 
feet; and we use 250 cubic fet per 
capita. 

We burn up in preventable forest 
fires from twenty-five to fifty million 
dollars’ worth of timber every year, 
the fire causing an average annual 
loss of seventy lives. 

Lumbering employs more persons 
than any other American manufactur¬ 
ing industry—more than 600,000 men 
in 48,000 saw-mills, and 400,000 more 
men in making derived wood products. 

1086. Willing to Grow in the 

Shade. 

In many of the dry sections of our 
great West the only vegetation is 
clustered here and there in little 
bunches about a lonely mesquite tree. 
The tree lives in the direst soil. Its 
shade makes it possible for one or two 
species of shrubs to endure the heat. 
Under the tree and shrubs, and some¬ 
times climbing up either, is sometimes 
found more than one kind of cactus, 
possibly a large leaved “prickly pear,” 
and sheltered by this same bright 
flowered grasses and weeds. Unless 
the grass were willing to grow thus 
overshadowed there might not be a 



264 


SQUANDERING TREE RESOURCES 


blossom in the desert, nor a sprig of 
grass for cattle or horse. 

Can you not make some application 
of this fact to your life, if others in 
the social world, or the world of busi¬ 
ness, or even in church life, over¬ 
shadow you in your humble position? 
Be willing to grow in the shade. It 
is frequently the very best place for 
development and for service.— Rev. 
J. F. Eddins. 

1087. Candles Made From Trees. 

There are three kinds of trees from 
which tallow candles can be made. 
One is a native of China, and is called 
by botanists stillingia sebifera. The 
seeds in its fruit are covered by a 
waxlike substance used by the natives 
for making candles. 

Another tallow tree grows in the 
Western Ghauts of India, about 4,000 
feet above sea level. The height of 
the tree, which is an evergreen, is 
about sixty feet. It is called the val- 
leria indica. Its seeds yield a pale 
yellowish fat, solid and concrete. By 
boiling the fruit the fat is easily pro¬ 
curable and is then either made into 
candles or soap, or it may be burnt in 
lamps. 

A third tree from which tallow 
candles may be made is the African 
butter tree, or Shea tree. Its fruit 
exudes a yellow, greasy juice, which 
is manipulated in a similar manner to 
those already described and with 
equally useful results. 

1088. Squandering Tree Resources. 

Always men have valued the tree, 
if not for its appeal to their poetic 
nature, then because of its faithfulness 
in supplying the most constant needs 
of their daily life. There are men 
who lack the inborn love of the woods, 
but there are few who can dispense 
with houses, table, chairs, and the 
countless other articles that are pro¬ 
vided by the trees. There are many 
who would be deaf to the most elo¬ 


quent oration on the beauty of trees 
and their worth as ornaments- to our 
towns and parks and country-places 
who would wake to attain suddenly 
if one should mention the high cost 
of living and show the important bear¬ 
ing that trees have upon that pressing 
problem. We need not censure these 
people as being prosaic and merce¬ 
nary. They are looking at only one 
side of the matter, and a side that is 
at least as important as the other. 
In this case, at least, the most practical 
reality and the truest poetry need have 
no quarrel together. 

But we are just now awakening to 
the fact that from both points of view 
man’s share in the friendship with 
trees has been a very short-sighted 
one. If any of us should spend a 
year’s wages in a single month, he 
would expect to go poor the other 
eleven. This is somewhat the way 
that our nation has been squandering 
the services of the trees, except that 
a man’s life is so short compared to a 
tree’s that those who spend and those 
who go without belong to different 
generations .—Ethelbert Rose. 

1089. Get Acquainted With Trees. 

A noted botanist was walking 
through a park with a young lady of 
the “gushing” type. He pointed out 
to her some of the fine trees in the 
neighborhood. 

Professing great interest, the damsel 
cried: “How the noble aspect of beau¬ 
tiful trees stirs up the emotions of 
the soul!” 

Then, patting a great, rough trunk, 
she went on: “You superb oak, what 
would you say if you could talk?” 

The botanist smiled. 

“I believe I can be his interpreter,” 
he murmured gently. “He would 
probably say: T beg pardon, madam; 

I am a beech.’ ” 

1090. Trees Teaching. 

It is a peculiarity of the scrub oak 
that its tough, leathery leaves do not 



FORESTS AND RIVER FLOW 


265 


fall off in the autumn, but may be seen 
withered, curled up, and clinging to 
the boughs all through the winter, and 
they cannot be torn away even by the 
boisterous winds of March. But when 
the sap begins to flow in the spring 
the new leaf bud emerges from its 
hiding place and pushes off the old 
leaf. It is so with our old sinful 
habits. We do not succeed in tearing 
them off from us by strong resolutions. 
It is only when there is a new life 
within that, by virtue of the activities 
of the Christian life, we slough off 
the old evil habits .—Edward Judson. 

1091. Forests and River Flow. 

Our rivers are dependent for their 
uniform flow upon the shade and roots 
and underbrush and peculiar soil of 
the forests. Where there are no 
forests the streams are either a dry 
bed or a raging torrent. Shade has 
much to do with it, but not all. The 
spring thaws melt the snows in one 
week on a bare hillside, which would 
not be entirely liquified in six weeks 
in the dense woods. But the top layer 
of forest soil, which is known as 
“humus,” has still more to do with it 
—and this humus is operative at every 
season of the year. It is composed of 
leaf-mold and moss and other vege¬ 
table matter. It soaks up the rain as 
a sponge and delivers it up slowly— 
thus becoming a prennial feeder to the 
springs and little rivulets. But with¬ 
out woods there is neither humus nor 
shade and as the process of deforesta¬ 
tion goes on the process of flood and 
drought is emphasized. 

The cause, in fact, operates in two 
opposite ways. Deforestation washes 
the soil from the highlands and covers 
the low lands with standing water. 
It creates an awful barren on the one 
hand and a dismal swamp on the 
other.— Rev. David R. Breed, D.D. 

1092. The Prunning of Trees. ^ 

The prunning of trees in this coun¬ 
try seems to be nearly everywhere a 


matter of purest impusle. There is 
certainly no intelligence about it. Our 
trees on lawns, by the highway, in the 
parks and cemeteries, are everywhere 
subject to most barbarous usage. For 
all sorts of trees pruning is deferred 
until the tree is old, when the owner 
or street commissioner or the tele¬ 
phone company suddenly awakens to 
the fact that the tree needs pruning, 
when forthwith a man with ladder and 
axe appears and proceeds to hew off 
the already far developed limbs. No 
illustration is needed here to bring to 
mind vividly the results of such ampu¬ 
tation. In every town, along every 
highway, one may see examples of 
such amputation. All winter long the 
mutilated trunks of our trees stand 
like decapitated criminals. In spring 
all generous nature attempts to cover 
up the deformity. New shoots appear 
in numbers around the severed trunk 
or branch, and in time we may have 
once more a somewhat ubbrageous top. 
But the tree is ruined. In the first 
place, its symmetry is destroyed. It 
can never again exhibit the graceful 
proportions characteristic of the 
species it represents. In the second 
place, the exposed wood, whether the 
lopping was done by axe or saw, soon 
rots. Decay, like swift disease, in¬ 
vades the center of the trunk and in 
a few years leaves naught; but a 
wretched shell. 

The pruning process in growing 
character is always a delicate one. 
One thing is sure, if pruning must be 
done it ought not to be left till late in 
life. But too much pruning will ruin 
the symmetry of character. 

1093. Trees Well Rooted. 

Every healthy tree has as much root 
as top. That gives stability when 
storms come. Some of us would with¬ 
stand temptations and discouragements 
better if we were rooted in the Word 
of God. After a recent heavy gale 



266 


GOD IN THE FIELDS 


we saw hundreds of telephone-poles 
blown down, but scarcely a tree. 

1094. God In the Fields. 

He who loves beauty in the world 
God made is, so far, in sympathy with 
God. Whether he be an artist, waiting 
on the suggestions of tree and cloud, 
high peak and level meadow, for the 
picture he hopes to make; a student 
of the sciences, seeking to draw nearer 
to the sources and to follow the pro¬ 
cesses of life; or a lover of beauty 
without special aims; in his study or 
enjoyment he is thinking thoughts of 
God. For He, inhabitating and trans¬ 
cending the universe that contains and 
limits us, is the designer and accom- 
plisher upon whose work we wait with 
some degree of sympathetic under¬ 
standing. 

How, then, shall we deepen enjoy¬ 
ment in the beauty of God’s work, if 
not by deepening and broadening sym¬ 
pathy with Him who is its maker and 
its life? 

The loving child of God should be 
aware of the presence of his Father 
everywhere. That is God’s wish as 
well as our opportunity. 

1095. Destruction of Forests. 

Let us lay to heart the words of the 
Wise Man who, in Eccl. 5:9, pro¬ 
claims the primary importance of agri¬ 
culture when he declares, “The King 
himself is served by the fields.” And 
let us beware lest the prophecy which 
Jeremiah uttered against Egypt be ful¬ 
filled in us (Ch. 46), “Destruction 
is come! It is come! For they shall 
march with an army and come against 
her with axes. . . They shall cut 
down her forest, saith Jehovah.” No 
greater physical calamity can befall a 
people.— Rev. David R. Breed , D.D. 

1096. Never Discouraged. 

After a terrible sweep of a fire in 
the mountains of the West the whole 
mountain side is often blackened with 


a ruin so complete that it would seem 
as if no living thing could ever appear 
in that locality again. But beneficent 
nature sends relief. On the wings of 
the wind the seeds of the mountain 
aspen float, and in a year or two the 
ruin may be almost effaced, at least by 
aspen saplings, standing so thick some¬ 
times as to be utterly impenetrable. 
These form a nursing cover for young 
forms of other species, conifers among 
the rest and after long years the 
original forest may possibly resume its 
sway. 

Don’t be discouraged by one mistake 
or misfortune. Try, try again. Re¬ 
covery is possible in nature and in 
grace.— H. 

1097. Temporarily Overshadowed. 

If one who passes through a pine 
forest will observe carefully, he will 
often find small areas already given 
to other sorts of trees, and if he will 
look still more closely he will find 
often among the pines themselves 
hundreds of little trees, not pines, 
temporarily overshadowed and sup¬ 
pressed, which wait only the removal 
of the existing forest to spring up 
rapidly and so to produce in a few 
years the remarkable transformation 
so often noted. 

Don’t be discouraged because the 
good in some people often seems to be 
suppressed. Give it a chance and it 
will spring up and grow.— H. 

1098. The Manner of Planting. 

The manner of planting is impor¬ 
tant. It is pretty certain that most 
transplanted trees that fail die of 
drought. They die of drought in 
transit. The roots are allowed to be¬ 
come dry. Some trees will endure 
bad treatment in this respect much 
better than others, but the great 
majority of the species we use for 
ornamental or economical planting 
must be watched if we wish to obtain 
the best possible results. Many trees 



BLOOM BOR GOD 


267 


also perish because improperly set out. 
The laborer gives the already mutilated 
roots too little room. They are all 
imprisoned in unfriendly soil or by 
impenetrable walls of clay. Trees 
may even drown because the spring 
rains fill up the hard walled hole in 
which the roots are set and the water 
finds no exit. This not infrequently 
happens in clay soil. 

It is true also that the manner of 
planting truth is important. The seeds 
of truth may be allowed to become 
too dry, or the roots may become mu¬ 
tilated or given too little room, or they 
may be drowned by an over-flood of 
error. Be careful in planting truth, 
especially in young minds.— H. 

1099. Men Not Hot-house Plants. 

When the larches were introduced 
into England from southern Europe, 
the gardeners took it for granted that 
they needed warmth to cause them to 
grow; so they were placed in the hot¬ 
houses, and at once began to wither 
and droop. The gardners became dis¬ 
gusted, and threw them out-of-doors. 
They at once began to grow, and be¬ 
came trees of great beauty. So it 
ofttimes becomes necessary for Christ 
to throw us out-of-doors into the cold 
of reverses, disappointments, sorrow, 
and pain, that our Christian characters 
may be developed.— C. W. Bibb. 

1100. Turning Sawdust to Account. 

It is a fact known to few that more 
than 20,000 tons of wood flour, valued 
at $300,000, are used annually in the 
United States in two widely different 
industries, the manufacture of dyna¬ 
mite and the manufacture of inlaid 
linoleum. 

Wood flour is also used in making 
composition flooring, oatmeal paper, 
and in several other industries. It 


forms one of the means by which the 
huge waste product of our lumber 
mills is beginning to find some better 
means of disposal than the burner, 
since a total of 36,000,000 cords of 
such waste is produced each year at 
saw mills in the United States, of 
which about one-half goes into the 
furnaces as fuel while the rest is 
burned as refuse to dispose of it, 
there is no lack of raw material for 
industries which can develop ways of 
turning this waste to account.— Re¬ 
view of Reviews. 

1101. Bloom For God. 

It takes a thousand buds to make 
one American Beauty rose, conse¬ 
quently nine hundred and ninety-nine 
of them must be suppressed. Think of 
this, dear one, when billows of trouble 
overwhelm you and God seems to have 
hidden His face. He has in view the 
height to which He intends to carry 
the culture of your soul. He has in 
mind a work which your loftiest am¬ 
bition has never even thought of. He 
wants some heroes and leaders for His 
work, men and women that can stand 
pruning and transplanting, and He 
may want you. Then think of the 
American Beauty and bloom out for 
God .—Record of Christian Work. 

1102. Telltales. 

Pussy-willow had a secret 

That the snowdrops whispered her, 

And she purred it to the South Wind, 
While it stroked her velvet fur. 

And the South Wind hummed it softly 
To the busy honey-bees, 

And they buzzed it to the blossoms 
On the scarlet maple-trees 
And these dropped it to the wood-brooks, 
Brimming full of melted snow, 

And the brooks told Robin Redbreast, 

As they chattered to and fro; 

Iyittle Robin could not keep it. 

So he sang it loud and clear 
To the sleepy fields and meadows, 

“Wake upl Cheer up I Spring is here!” 



268 


ASCENDED CONQUEROR 


XV. ASCENSION DAY 

(Fortieth Day After Easter.) 


1103. The Ascended Christ Inter¬ 

cedes. 

Once, I suddenly opened the door 
of my mother’s room, and saw her on 
her knees beside her chair, and heard 
her speak my name in prayer. I 
quickly and quietly withdrew, with a 
feeling of awe and reverence in my 
heart. Soon I went away from home 
to school, then to college, then into 
life’s sterner duties. But I never for¬ 
got that one glimpse of my mother at 
prayer, nor the one word—my name 
—which I heard her utter. Well did 
I know that what I had seen that day 
was but a glimpse of what was going 
on every day in that sacred closet of 
prayer, and the consciousness strength¬ 
ened me a thousand times in duty, in 
danger, and in struggle. When death 
came, at length, and sealed those lips, 
the sorest sense of loss that I felt 
was the knowledge that no more would 
my mother be praying for me. In 
John 17 we hear Christ praying for 
us—just once, a few sentences; but 
we know that this is only a sample of 
the intercession for us that goes on 
forever. Nothing shall interrupt this 
pleading, for he ever liveth to inter¬ 
cede.— J. R. Miller, D.D. 

1104. “Even As He Said.” 

During the recent war, after a Ger¬ 
man attack, an American boy who 
came back to our lines discovered that 
his “pal,” with who he had fought side 
by side, was missing; he immediately 
asked permission to go back over the 
field and get him. His officer advised 
him not to go, and said: “If you do, 
it will not be worth while. Go at your 
risk, but it will cost you your life.” 
The boy went out, found his friend 
badly hurt, and brought him back near 
our line, but at that point the wounded 


soldier died. The rescuer himself was 
then shot. Dying, he crawled back 
within the line. The officer, leaning 
over him just before he died, said: 
“I told you you would lose your life. 
Was it worth while?” “Yes sir,” re¬ 
plied the dying soldier. “He said he 
knew I would come.” The Master 
said He would rise again, and He kept 
His word. The Master says He will 
come again and He will surely keep 
that word, too. 

1105. Ascended Conqueror. 

Christ ascended to heaven and led 
captivity captive; but only that 
through His victory He might make 
us also conquerors by His descending 
power. 

Christ ascended to heaven and re¬ 
ceived gifts, not for His own enrich¬ 
ment but that He might bestow them 
upon us in the descending blessing. 

Christ ascended to heaven that He 
might carry on His continual work of 
intercession ; but only that its results 
might be felt in their descent to the 
earth. 

Christ ascended to heaven that He 
might come into possession of the 
glorious kingdom; but only that His 
joy might descend to the hearts of 
His subjects and remain in them, 
making their own joy full. 

1106. Generous Spaces; Long 

Vistas. 

The ascending Christ preaches to 
us a gospel of encouragement. These 
lives we live would lose the cheap 
and dull and mean appearance they 
often wear in our own eyes, if we 
could only now and then unlink them 
from the associations of time, and 
link them to the associations of 
eternity. Any one human life, looked 
at all by itself, is almost necessarily 



REIGNING IN HEAVEN 


269 


insignificant. . . What we need is to 
have opened to our sight the generous 
spaces and long vistas of the heavenly 
country. The ascension does this for 
us. We see our Elder Brother going 
up to take possession of His throne, 
and with something, even though it be 
ever so little, of His nobility, we are 
ourselves ennobled as we look.— W. 
R. Huntingdon, D.D. 

1107. Still With Us. 

The Captain of our salvation has 
not withdrawn to a safe height, leav¬ 
ing us to fight His battles; but as the 
first marytr saw Him standing in at¬ 
titude of eager sympathy and swift 
help, so He is with all His struggling 
servants a presence nearer than all 
others, and never withdrawn from the 
trustful heart. His name is Immanuel, 
—God with us,—till the end of the 
ages, when He will take us from toil 
to rest, and “so shall we ever be with 
the Lord,” who was “with us” while 
change and sorrow and conflict pressed 
us sore .—Alexander McLaren, D.D. 

1108. Feeling Kinship. 

Christ’s life here assures us of His 
kinship with us on earth; His ascen¬ 
sion enables us to feel our kinship 
with Him in heaven. Earth is not 
more lonely because of His return, but 
heaven becomes more clearly the home 
to which our hearts are to turn. He 
went before in order to welcome us 
when we are summoned to follow. But 
for the present struggle of life, also, 
His ascension has its significance.— 
A. W. Kelly. 

1109. Reigning In Heaven. 

In one of our villages in North 
India, a missionary was preaching in 
a bazaar, and after he had closed a 
Mohammedan gentleman came up and 
said: “You must admit we have one 
thing you have not, and it is better 
than anything you have.” The mis¬ 


sionary smiled and treated him as a 
gentleman and said: “I should be 
pleased to hear what it is.” The Mo¬ 
hammedan gentleman said: “You 
know when we go to our Mecca we 
find at least a coffin. But when you 
Christians go to Jerusalem, which is 
your Mecca, you find nothing but an 
empty grave.” And the missionary 
smiled and said: “That is just the 
difference. Mahomet is dead, Maho¬ 
met is in his coffin.” And all false 
systems of religion and philosophy are 
in their coffins. But Jesus Christ, 
whose kingdom is to include all nations 
and kindreds and tribes, is not here; 
He is risen. And all power in heaven 
and earth is given unto Him. That 
is our hope. 

mo. The Ever-brightening Hope. 

“Yours in the ever-brightening and 
blessed hope.” With these words a 
ministerial brother closes a brief per¬ 
sonal note. The “ever-brightening” 
gave us an arrest of thought. The 
“blessed hope of the glorious appear¬ 
ing” of the Saviour whom we love 
overarches the sky of the believer’s 
future. Blessed is the man to whom 
it is indeed an “ever-brightening” 
hope, for this can be said of those 
only who are “looking for and hasten¬ 
ing unto” the glorious coming. It 
is like the “shining more and more” 
of the path of the just as it draws 
nearer “the perfect day.” 

The “ever-brightening” hope also 
suggests the darkening sky of the 
world approaching night. The hope 
shines out brighter and brighter to the 
longing watcher, as the background 
sinks into deeper shadows of the com¬ 
ing tribulation. 

Thanks be to God for the hope 
“that maketh not ashamed”—a hope 
“sure and steadfast,” a hope immor¬ 
tal, unquenchable, a hope ever brigh¬ 
tening as the darknses deepens into 
the night of the last tribulation. 



270 


EFFECT OF THE ASCENSION 


mi. Comfort in a Cloud. 

A suffering believer once remarked 
to a friend: “When I am very low 
and dark I go to the window, and if 
I see a heavy cloud I think of those 
precious words, “A cloud received 
him out of their sight,” and I loox up 
and see the cloud sure enougn, and 
then I think—well, that may be the 
cloud that hides him. And so you see 
there is comfort in a cloud.” 

1112. Preparing a Place. 

Jesus went away not only to pre¬ 
pare a place for us, so that it will be 
ready for us as one by one we go 
home, but to prepare us for the place, 
to fit us for heavenly enjoyments and 
heavenly service. It is quite as es¬ 
sential that we should be prepared for 
heaven as that heaven should be pre¬ 
pared for us. The same double proc¬ 
ess is going on with reference to that 
part of our Father’s home in which we 
may dwell in this life. He is opening 
doors of opportunity, and preparing a 
sphere, a place for us on earth, and 
also preparing us for the sphere He 
would have us fill, and the work He 
would have us do. 

1113. Fable of Ascension. 

The body of Romulus disappeared 
suddenly, and no remnant of it or of 
his clothing could be discovered by 
the most diligent search. One report 
is that he disappeared from the temple 
of Vulcan; another that he was hold¬ 
ing an assembly outside the city when 
there was great darkness, fearful 
thunderings, and a resistless tempest, 
which terrified and scattered the 
people. When this had subsided, the 
people came together again, but Romu¬ 
lus could not be found. It was thence 
reported by the patricians, that Ro¬ 
mulus had been caught up to heaven, 
and would be to the Romans a pro¬ 
pitious god. Thus Romulus became 
one of the gods of Rome. This was 
confirmed by the oath of his devoted 


and famous friend, Julius Proclus, 
who swore that he met Romulus 
while traveling on the road, clad in the 
most dazzling armor. Astonished at 
the sight, he cried out, “For what mis¬ 
behaviour of ours, or by what accident, 
O King, hast thou so untimely left 
us?” He answered, “It pleased the 
gods, my good Proclus, that we should 
dwell with men for a time, and having 
founded a city which shall be the most 
powerful and glorious in the world, 
return to heaven, from whence we 
came. Farewell, then! Go, tell the 
Romans that by the exercise of tem¬ 
perance and fortitude they shall attain 
the highest pitch of human greatness, 
and I, the god Quirinus, will ever be 
propitious to you.” 

1114. Effect of the Ascension. 

Note the effect wrought on the dis¬ 
ciples by the Ascension of Christ— 
an effect, you observe, not of sorrow, 
but of joy. In place of being disheart¬ 
ened by the separation, they were 
mightily encouraged, and “returned to 
Jerusalem with great joy: And were 
continually in the temple, praising and 
blessing God.” Shall we grieve that 
the Visible Presence is withdrawn, 
and that there is no longer on earth 
the mighty and mysterious Personage 
who put away sin by the sacrifice of 
Himself and discomfited through dying 
the enemies of God and man? Not 
so! There is no reason for sorrow 
that He quits the earth on the wings 
of the wind. We could not detain 
Him below, we would have Him as 
our Mediator within the veil. This 
and this only, can secure to us those 
spiritual assistances through which we 
ourselves may climb the firmament.— 
H. Melvill. 

it 15. Beginning and Going On. 

“While they beheld, he was taken 
up; and a cloud received him out of 
their sight.” Acts 1: 9. The account 
of the ascension of Christ is the con- 



ASCENDED TO ADMINISTER 


271 


necting link between gospel history 
and Christian church history, between 
the work of Jesus during His early 
life and His continued work ever since. 
It contains the finish of the most im¬ 
portant episode of history, the earthly 
sojourn of God incarnate. It contains 
the beginning of that sojourn’s most 
transcendent result, the mediatorial 
and yet-to-be triumphant reign of 
Jesus. 

Christ’s life in the world is divided 
into action and doctrine, the things He 
did and the things He taught. Luke 
had written to his friend Theophilus 
before. But he wants him to know 
now that the “former treatise” was 
only about beginnings. The things 
spoken of were the things Jesus “be¬ 
gan to do and teach.” His present 
writing he wishes him to understand 
as a second volume of the acts of 
Jesus and a further record of the 
teachings of, Jesus. Well we know 
to-day that “began” does not stop with 
any written record. The fountain has 
become the source of an ever flowing 
river of grace giving the world an 
ever widening stream of blessing. The 
gist of the gospel is that Jesus lives 
to-day and personally directs His 
followers.— L. 

1116. Ascended to Administer. 

The continued acts of the ascended 
Christ are “through the Holy Ghost.” 
He had told His disciples that it was 
really expedient that He should go 
away in order that His greater work 
through the Holy Ghost might begin. 
Whatever was done, therefore, after 
Christ’s death and resurrection, after 
He had finished His great work of 
atonement, was to be regarded in a 
particular sense as under the influence 
of the Holy Ghost. Even His parting 
instructions and commission to the 
apostles were to be regarded as com¬ 
ing within the department of the 
peculiar activity of the Holy Spirit. 


Under these instructions and accom¬ 
panied by this Spirit the apostles 
were to go forth and by His aid to 
convert the world.—L. 

1117. Christ Gift of Peace. 

One reason that Jesus’ going away 
meant peace was because of whom 
He was to send in His place. Frances 
Ridley Havergal received an ^Eolian 
harp, with a letter of instruction for 
using it so as to produce music. She 
read the letter hastily, and tried the 
harp with her fingers. It made only 
ordinary music. She read again the 
instructions, and noted that she must 
place the harp in the window and let 
the breezes of God sweep its strings. 
This she at once did, and sweeter 
music never floated on the air. The 
Spirit is God’s breath, and if we place 
the life where He can sweep over it 
He will bring into life a wondrous 
harmony and peace. 

1118. The King of Glory Ascended. 

While Jesus was speaking out there 
on the Mount of Olives, the farewell 
moment arrived. Lifting up his hands 
in blessing and “while they beheld”— 
that they might have clear proof of 
his ascension, assurance that there was 
no deception—he began to rise from 
the earth and ascend higher and higher 
until “a cloud received him out of 
their sight.” It is impossible to add 
to that simple account. It may have 
been some glorious cloud like that 
symbol of God, the “fiery, cloudy 
pillar,” or Elijah’s “storm chariot,” or 
the bright halo of the transfiguration. 
But no attempt is made to cause the 
event to seem dramatic. Seen from 
the earth side, how quietly donel But 
seen from the heaven side, what a 
spectacle it must have been; “Lift up 
your heads, O ye gates; even lift 
them up, ye everlasting doors; and 
the King of glory shall come in!”— 
L. 



THE CREED OF CHRISTENDOM 


272 


1119. The Creed of Christendom. 

“He ascended into heaven,” runs the 
statement in the Creed of Christen¬ 
dom. Home was thither for the Son 
of God, as it is for the sons of God 
who, believing in Him, have life 
through His name. The Forty days 
after the resurrection were enough to 
finish the work which He came to do, 
the establishment of God’s Kingdom 
among men by His life, death and 
resurrection. Luke is the evangelist 
as well as the historian of the As¬ 
cension .—Isaac F. Gowett, D.D. 

1120. Charged to Be Discharged. 

When Christ told His disciples that 
they were to be endued with power 
from on high, He never left the im¬ 
pression that they were to have the 
power for the sake of having it; 
power is given for use; preparation 
is for service. The apostles not only 
learned work, but they learned the 
value of working together .—John F. 
Cowan, D.D. 

1121. Gazing Into Heaven Must 

Not Be Prolonged. 

The angels at the scene of the ascen¬ 
sion said somewhat reprovingly to the 
heavenward-gazing apostles: “Why 
stand ye gazing up into heaven ?” 
Even gazing into heaven must not be 
too prolonged or fixed. At the expos¬ 
tulation of the angels the apostles 
withdrew their wistful eyes and re¬ 
turned obediently to Jerusalem, no 
doubt comforting themselves with the 
thought of his return. They went 
back not knowing exactly what to do; 
but content to wait until He should tell 
them. They go to the upper room, 
where they had eaten their last pass- 
over supper with the Eord. They 
found the other disciples there. With 
them they “waited.” They waited by 
prayer, by conference together, by do¬ 
ing necessary duties. The waiting was 
not sleeping with folded hands. It 
was alert and obedient. We know 


the blessing they received. Mere 
gazing up to heaven will do nothing 
for us; but prayer in the upper cham¬ 
ber will do everything. Now we are 
to work and wait knowing that our 
Saviour is exalted at God’s right hand 
and is controlling all things in His 
kingdom for the good of mankind 
and His own ultimate glory.— H. 

1122. Our Intercessor Now. 

Jesus had fulfilled the office of Re¬ 
deemer, which must be discharged on 
earth, and took up that of Intercessor, 
which must be fulfilled in heaven. 
That was one reason for His ascen¬ 
sion. Another He gave in the four¬ 
teenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth chapters " 
of John—that the Holy Spirit might 
come and complete the earthly work 
which Jesus had begun, and be in all 
places at the same time, whereas Jesus, 
in His human body, was in but one 
place.— J. F. Cowan, D.D. 

1123. Ascension of Christ. 

Having spoiled His enemies on the 
cross, He further makes the public 
triumphal show of them in His own 
person, which is a second act. As the 
manner of the Roman emperors was, 
in their great triumph, to ride through 
the city in the greatest state, and 
have all the spoils carried before them, 
and the kings and nobles whom they 
had taken: and this did Christ at His 
ascension, plainly manifesting by His 
open show of them, that He had 
spoiled and fully subdued them.— T. 
Goodwin. 

1124. One Who Will Come. 

The great lesson for us all is, that 
the posture of those who love Christ 
must henceforth be one not more of 
retrospect than of expectation. It is 
well indeed that you should treasure 
in your mind the thought of Him as 
He was on earth. To live in His won¬ 
derful works, in His perfect example, 
in His divine words, is the safe and 



OUR LORD’S LAST WORDS 


273 


blessed privilege of the faithful. And 
to look up after Him, into heaven, 
and see Him now by faith as He lives 
there, the mediator and the interces¬ 
sor and the high-priest of man: the 
resurrection and the life, first of the 
soul, and hereafter also of the body, 
of each one of His people; to ascend 
thither, in heart and mind, after Him, 
and with Him continually to dwell; 
to seek and to set your affection on 
things above, where Christ sitteth at 
the right hand of God; this is one 
great part of the secret of the Chris¬ 
tian life below: thus it is that men 
are made strong for conflict, victorious 
over temptation, and at last fit for 
heaven. But all this is a different 
thing from vain regret and from idle 
contemplation. To gaze up into 
heaven after one who is gone, is not 
the work of His church below. Rather 
is it to gaze up into heaven for One 
who will come.— Vaughan. 

1125. Our Lord’s Last Words. 

The last command of a friend who 
has left us is commonly regarded with 
more than usual interest. Whatever 
else men forget they remember this. 
It is connected with a moment sacred 
in their recollections. The last glimpse 
of the familiar form receding from 
their view, the vessel long watched 
amidst the distant haze—these or 
similar remembrances are linked to 
those words. Nay, sometimes they 
were the last uttered on earth. The 
words of the dying—oh, how we 
treasure them; how full they are to 
us of seeds of action; how deep we 
lay them in our hearts! And our dear 
Friend has been taken from us; not 
the Friend of one family, but of all 
the families of the earth; the Friend 
of man—He who loves us and gave 
Himself for us. We have in the 
Gospels four distinct testimonies that 
our Lord’s parting words were a plain 
command to His Church to preach the 
Gospel among all nations, to make 
18 


disciples of all nations, to preach re¬ 
pentance and remission of sins among 
all nations, to witness for Him unto 
the uttermost parts of the earth. This 
is the last sound of that Voice which 
spake as never man spake; this the 
utterance which yet vibrated in the 
air as He was born upward, and which 
still speaks on in the ear of every one 
of His faithful followers: “Evange¬ 
lize the world;” “Rest not till all 
know Him.”— H. A. 

1126. Effect of the Ascension. 

Note the effect wrought on the dis¬ 
ciples by the Ascension of Christ—an 
effect, you observe, not of sorrow, 
but of joy. In place of being dis¬ 
heartened by the separation, they were 
mightily encouraged, and “returned 
to Jerusalem with great joy: And 
were continually in the Temple, prais¬ 
ing and blessing God.” Shall we 
grieve that the Visible Presence is 
withdrawn, and that there is no longer 
on earth the might; and mysterious 
Personage who put away sin by the 
sacrifice of Himself and discomforted 
through dying the enemies of God and 
man? Not sol There is no reason 
for sorrow that He quit the earth on 
the wings of the wind. We could not 
detain Him below, we would have 
Him as our Mediator within the veil. 
This and this only, can secure to us 
those spiritual assistances through 
which we ourselves may climb the 
firmament.— H. M. 

1127. Parted From Them. 

He was parted from them. By 
beginning to ascend upwards. And 
carried up into heaven. The tense 
of the original is picturesque, and in¬ 
dicates a continuedness, a gradual go¬ 
ing up out of their sight. Compare 
the more detailed account, Acts 1: 9- 
11. 

He wished, however, to leave them 
in such a way that they should not 
think he had simply vanished from 



THE DAY OF PENTECOST 


274 


them, and wait for His present re-ap¬ 
pearance. His ascension is not His 
separation from His people, but the 
ascension of His throne and the be¬ 
ginning of His reign as the head of 
the church which “is His body, the 
fulness of Him that filleth all in all” 
(Eph. 1:23). 

1128. Preparing a Place. 

It was at this time, doubtless, that 
the great change came over His body 
described in 1 Cor. 15 : 51-53. When 
a cloud had received Him out of their 
sight two angels bade them be com¬ 
forted, for the time was coming when 
He should return. Why did Christ 
leave His disciples to work out the 
kingdom of God? We must remember 
that He is personally present, only 
invisible, and that He has sent the 
Holy Spirit to guide and teach and 
give power. By Christ’s ascension we 
see His true nature, as divine; that 
He may be the omnipresent Saviour of 
all men alike; that we may be taught 
to live by faith, and not by sight; to 
train us up into His character by do¬ 
ing His work; He has gone to pre¬ 
pare a place for us, as well as us for 
the place.— P. 

1129. Sorrow Turned Into Joy. 

And they worshiped Him. Acknowl¬ 
edging now that He was indeed divine, 
they gave Him the religious worship 
due only to God. And returned to 
Jerusalem with great joy. Every 
sorrow had been turned into joy. The 
proof that Jesus was the Messiah had 


greatly increased; they saw how His 
death was the redemption of the 
world; they had learned how He 
could fulfill His promises; they saw 
new meaning in the Scriptures; they 
were full of love and joy in the Holy 
Spirit. It was like the blossoming of 
the night-blooming cereus, a marvel 
of beauty, upon its deformed and ugly 
stem. 

1130. Ascended—Interceding. 

When Dr. Doddridge lived at 
Northampton there was a poor Irish¬ 
man condemned for sheep stealing. In 
those days the statute book of England 
was very cruel. He scarcely thought 
that there was proof of the man’s 
guilt, and he believed in the book that 
teaches that a man is better than a 
sheep. He travelled, toiled and tried 
hard to get the man a reprieve, but 
unsuccessfully; he came back, and the 
man was hanged. On the road to exe¬ 
cution the convict got them to stop the 
cart just opposite Dr. Doddridge’s 
house, and, kneeling down, he said, 
“God bless you, Dr. Doddridge; every 
vein in my heart loves you, every drop 
of my blood loves you, for you tried 
to save every drop of it.” There was 
a man! What love he has for the 
intercessor who had failed. But Christ 
has succeeded, and what a price He 
has given. Oh, that every one would 
feel this, and be led to exclaim, “Every 
vein of my heart loves Thee, O Christ, 
every drop of my blood loves Thee, 
for Thou hast died to save me, and 
dost live to intercede for me.” 


XVI. WHITSUNDAY 

(Fifteenth Day After Easter.) 


1131. The Day of Pentecost. 

The day of Pentecost was character¬ 
ized by a great miracle, a great ser¬ 
mon, and a great revival. 

The miracle was not only the inaug¬ 


uration of the solemn investiture of 
the HoW Spirit and the solemn in¬ 
vestiture of the Church with its func¬ 
tions as a witness-bearing and world- 
reaching Church, but also a specific 




GREATEST UNUSED POWER 


275 


equipment of the Apostles for their 
work. The mighty wind and the 
tongues of fire were symbols of God's 
mysterious, vitalizing power and his 
illuminating and warming presence. 
The gift of tongues symbolized the 
bloodless character of the Christian 
warfare, and the power of the 
preached word. 

The sermon of Peter was preached 
from the strange text: “These men 
are full of new wine,” a text which 
disclosed the old tendency of the Sad- 
ducees to deny the miraculous. Even 
as to-day, men love to explain away 
the supernatural. Upon it Peter 
preached a plain, honest, earnest, doc¬ 
trinal sermon which produced a won¬ 
derful revival. 

There was nothing of rhapsody in 
the sermon, and nothing of uncertainty 
in its results. On the contrary we are 
expressly told that the converts con¬ 
tinued steadfast—a statement especially 
encouraging to us in these days when 
revivals are disparaged and their re¬ 
sults are considered transitory.— 
Francis L. Patton, D.D. } LL.D. 

1132. We must Be Emptied. 

Rev. Dr. A. J. Gordon reminded us 
that the wind always blows towards a 
vacuum. So in that upper chamber, 
the disciples were being emptied, and 
a vacuum was being made. The son 
of thunder was emptied of the thunder, 
that he might be filled with love. The 
doubting Thomas was emptied of his 
doubt, that he might be filled with 
light. The presumptuous and vacil¬ 
lating Peter was emptied of his pre¬ 
sumption and his fickleness, that he 
might be filled with all the power of 
God. And then there came the sound 
as of a rushing mighty wind, and God 
came into them and used them. 

1133. Power of the Holy Ghost. 

The root idea of Christianity is men 
and women carrying on Christ’s work 
in the power which fitted Him for His 


service—the power of the Holy Ghost. 
— Rev. Mark Guy Pearse. 

1134. Greatest Unused Power. 

The following instance was fre¬ 
quently cited by Rev. Dr. A. J. Gor¬ 
don: An American with an English 
gentleman was viewing the Niagara 
whirlpool rapids, when he said to his 
friend: “Come, and I’ll show you 
the greatest unused power in the 
world”; and taking him to the foot 
of Niagara Falls, “There,” he said, 
“is the greatest unused power in the 
world!” “Ah, no my brother. Not 
so!” was the reply, “The greatest 
unused power in the world is the Holy 
Spirit of the living God.” 

1135. Imperfect Conduits. 

An inventor was talking about 
electric conduits. “Do you know that 
great power-house of the traction 
company on the avenue? Well, the 
manager will tell you that 40 per 
cent of the electricity generated there 
is lost because of imperfect conduits. 
Think of that for prodigious waste! 
Almost half of the product of that 
great plant for nothing!” 

Well might the inventor wax em¬ 
phatic over this excessive waste of 
energy. But while he was talking 
our mind turned to a similar waste 
of greater power, and for the same 
reason. The thought is surely not 
irreverent that the very power of the 
Spirit of God is rendered unavail¬ 
ing because it must flow through 
human conduits that are imperfect. 

1136. Grieve Not the Spirit. 

A boy had a dove so tame that it 
would perch upon his shoulder and 
take food from his hand. One day 
he held out a tempting morsel, and, 
being in an ill-natured mood, just as 
the dove was about to eat he closed 
his hand. The bird turned away 
disappointed. He held out his hand 
again, the dove came forward timidly, 



276 


THE HOLY SPIRIT AS LIGHT 


but once more the hand was closed. 
With drooping wings the dove went 
to the farther corner of the room. 
Once more the hand was extended. 
This time the bird hesitated finally it 
pame forward slowly, hesitatingly, 
it was just about to take the food 
when the hand was again closed. 
Then the dove spread its wings and 
flew away, and the boy never saw 
that dove again. 

The Holy Spirit may be grieved, 
effectually grieved. His gentle moni¬ 
tions may be so slighted, his wooing 
influences so evil-entreated, that in 
sorrow he will retire or suspend his 
gentle ministry. 

1137. Controlled by the Holy 

Spirit. 

It is the great defect of the teach¬ 
ing as to the Holy Spirit in our 
day that evidences of His presence or 
the attractiveness of His fullness 
are based so largely upon mystical 
experiences or even upon power for 
service. Instead of shutting up this 
great, animating power to ministers, 
evangelists, religious services, and 
occasional spiritual experiences, what 
is needed is its extension into the 
rank and file of the professing 
church and into every business and 
occupation of life. Pentecostal 
seasons are blessed but they are 
exceptional, and by their very nature 
must be so. But the duties of life 
are ever with us. To have business 
men, students, mothers, and all con¬ 
trolled by the Holy Spirit would 
make a heaven of earth and of life. 
— Alex. Patterson. 

1138. The Spirit Gives Boldness. 

The Spirit will enable the witness- 
bearer to speak with boldness. 
“When they were all filled with the 
Holy Spirit, they spake the Word of 
God with boldness.” What a change 
came over the disciples on the Day 
of Pentecost. A short time before, 


they were afraid to acknowledge that 
they even knew Christ, Peter de¬ 
nied Him, and swore in order to 
give the denial emphasis. After His 
crucifixion, they were hiding away 
in a little upper room, fearing lest 
they should be mobbed. But after 
they were filled with the Holy Spirit 
Peter, with the other disciples, faced 
the Jewish mob and preached Christ 
unto them. Afterward, Peter and 
John were arrested and commanded 
not to speak at all nor teach in the 
name of Jesus, but no Sanhedrin or 
court could frighten them now. They 
declared they would obey God rather 
than man, and would boldly speak 
the things which they had heard and 
seen. There is nothing that will 
give the Christian such boldness as 
the conscious relization that God 
Almighty, with all the power of 
heaven and earth, stands by him to 
furnish him all needed assistance in 
accomplishing his mission. 

1139. Coming of the Holy Spirit. 

The symbols of the “wind” and 
“fire” suggest the principal Scripture 
ideas about the gift of the Spirit of 
God which belongs to His church. 
“Wind” sets forth the communication 
of supernatural life working sover¬ 
eignly and mysteriously. “Fire” 
indicates His transforming and en¬ 
ergizing power, burning up all our 
coldness. 

1140. The 'Holy Spirit As Light. 

In the practice of the photographer 
we see two things; faith in the 
power and effects of light, and the 
wise adjustment of everything in 
obedience to its laws. With what 
care the tenderly sensitive plate is 
prepared to receive the impression; 
with what precision its relative po¬ 
sition to the object to be portrayed 
is adjusted; how still and undis¬ 
turbed it is, then, held face to face 
with that object! Having done this, 



THE NEGLECTED HOLY SPIRIT 


277 


the photographer leaves the light to 
do its wonderful work! his work is 
indeed the work of faith. Let us 
believe in the light, in the power of 
the light of God to transcribe Christ’s 
image on our hearts. “We are 
changed into the same image as by 
the Spirit of the Lord.” Let us not 
seek to do the work the Spirit 
must do; let us simply trust Him to 
do it. Our duty is to seek the pre¬ 
pared heart, waiting, longing, praying 
for the likeness; to take our place 
face to face with Jesus, studying, 
gazing, loving, worshipping, and 
believing that the wonderful vision 
of that Crucified One is the sure 
promise of what can be. Not more 
surely or wonderfully than in the 
light printing which is done here 
on earth, will our souls receive and 
show the impress of that wonderful 
likeness .—Andrew Murray. 

1141. The Neglected Holy Spirit. 

The least mentioned person of the 
Godhead. I do not mean the one 
least mentioned in the Scriptures, 
though it would be an excellent 
study to take your concordance and 
compare the space occupied by the 
references to the names of God the 
Father as the first person, and Jesus 
Christ under His various appella¬ 
tions, with the space occupied by 
references to the Holy Ghost, the 
Spirit of God, the Spirit, etc. 

What I mean is that in modern 
sermons, prayers, religious books, 
papers, etc., the Holy Spirit, who 
came in such gracious power on the 
day of Pentecost, and has never for 
a moment been absent from the world 
since, received very scant mention 
compared with the other two persons 
of the Godhead. Here is one test : 
the meagre pile of clippings a man 
gets from his papers and magazines, 
who is watching every page he 
reads for passages that will illustrate 
various religious topics. He finds ten 


to one on God the Father, or Jesus 
Christ, as compared with the Holy 
Spirit. 

Is it because we don’t need the 
Spirit of God? Or is it because we 
need Him as much as those did who 
received Him on the day of Pente¬ 
cost, but don’t know that we need 
Him? Or is it because we don’t want 
Him, don’t welcome Him into our 
lives, because, someway, if we have 
Him at all, He must be too dominat¬ 
ing or controlling a factor ?—John F. 
Cowan, D.D. 

1142. The Holy Ghost Funda¬ 
mental. 

Is the Holy Spirit a fundamental 
of Christianity? If He is funda¬ 
mental, then what is the use to try 
to dodge the Third Person, as so 
many ministers and so many teachers 
do? 

Let us go back to fundamentals. 
If your house is rickety, you do not 
repair it by papering the fourth 
story, but by mending the founda¬ 
tion. Too long have the leaders of 
the church been investing in wall¬ 
paper. I suggest we examine the 
foundation with a view to stone. 

Mr. Haslam, in “From Life to 
Death,” tells of an elderly Cornish 
woman who was a member of his 
flock, deeply taught in the things 
of God, and anxious lest her pastor 
in his zeal for multiplying the ac¬ 
tivities of the church should neglect 
the fundamental cultivation of holi¬ 
ness among the people. As he 
rushed by her home one day, intent 
on the new church edifice then in 
his mind, she called after him, 

“Mr. Haslam, are ye goin’ to build 
your spire from the top ?” 

It was an arrow. He kept asking 
himself, “Have I begun at the begin¬ 
ning?” and he never rested until he 
had climbed down from the fourth 
story to the first .—Herbert Booth 
Smith, D.D. 



278 


HOLY SPIRIT ANOTHER LENS 


1143. Holy Spirit Another Lens. 

“A day or two ago,” said Dr. J. 
H. Jowett, “I was at the end of the 
Palisades on the Hudson, where I 
could see some of the beauty of that 
most noble river. But a friend at 
my side gave me a pair of glasses, 
and I looked upon the scene again, 
and oh, how much more profoundly 
I could search the hidden things. The 
trees, and living things moving here 
and there, and smaller beauties, came 
into view. I know we cannot get 
away from the love of God, but when 
the Holy Spirit comes it is like 
another lens, and we look with in¬ 
creased power upon the old scene, 
and are feasted with the glories of 
the Lord .”—Sunday at Home. 

1144. The Pouring Of His Spirit. 

We have had the patriarchal, the 
Mosaic, the Messianic dispensations 
for the salvation of the race, and 
now we are in the final administra¬ 
tion of the diffusion of the Holy 
Spirit of God. He is everywhere 
present at the same moment; he 
takes the words of the prophets and 
of the Christ and applies all power, 
love and purity unto believing hearts. 
He is God in spiritual life and trans¬ 
forming light. He makes applica¬ 
tion of the truth to the mind, of the 
blood of cleansing to the heart, of 
the love of God to the affection. 

With the Spirit’s baptism of power, 
we speak as witnesses for Christ and 
shine as lights in the world. We 
see visions of coming triumphs, 
grander than any in the past. By the 
Holy Ghost, God the Father and 
Christ the Son are with their people 
always, even unto the end of the 
world. In every assembly of the 
church, there the Holy Trinity is in 
the midst, pouring out the divine in¬ 
fluence upon prayerful, trustful hearts. 
Oh for a new Pentecost that will 
endue all Christendom with the 
power of the apostolic church! 


Oh for a missionary revival that will 
begin where the war leaves off and 
enter upon the winning of the whole 
world for Christ, an evangelistic 
movement that will make Billy Sun¬ 
day’s one hundred thousand con¬ 
verts in New York City seem as 
drops before the mighty sihower! 
Then our God will open the windows 
of heaven and pour out such floods 
of blessings as shall cover the earth 
as waters cover the sea.— Rev. B. W. 
Caswell, D.D. 

1145. The Holy Spirit Comforter. 

A few months ago, while travel¬ 
ing, I saw a little blind girl come 
into the train. She was not more than 
seven or eight years old, and had a 
very bright face. She had been at¬ 
tending a school for the blind and 
was on her way home, yet no friend 
or relative was with her. You may 
ask how' she could travel alone? 
Very well indeed, for she was put in 
charge of the conductor, a kind- 
hearted man, who lived in the same 
town as she did. When he was not 
engaged in collecting tickets, he sat 
by her side and talked with her. 
She thus reached the end of her 
journey safely, and I saw her placed 
in the arms of her loved ones. 

That conductor was a “comforter” 
in the Bible sense of that word, 
which means, “one who is called to 
another’s side to aid him.” Do we 
realize that we are like this little 
blind girl?—in a world where we 
know not the way, yet where the 
Comforter is our ever-present guide, 
striving to lead us to our heavenly 
home?— Sunday-School Chronicle. 

1146. The Holy Spirit a Barrage 
of Fire. 

When our soldier boys went forth 
in Flanders the infantry was pre¬ 
ceded by a “curtain of fire” that 
literally wiped out every wire en¬ 
tanglement, every impediment in the 



HOLY SPIRIT LIKE A DOVE 


279 


way, and cleared a track of desola¬ 
tion. They marched behind a barrage 
of flame. The Lord sent forth the 
early ministers, but ahead of them he 
sent this divine barrage of fire to 
break down the barriers, to impress 
men with the supernatural presence 
and power of God, and to prepare the 
way. Shall we have the same de¬ 
pendence upon the power of God and 
go forth behind the curtain of fire 
which the Holy Ghost is still waiting 
to use for us?— Dr. A. B. Simpson. 

1147. Early Church a Baptized 

Church. 

The early church was a baptized 
church. One fact which almost stag¬ 
gers you in its insistent recurrence 
is the prominence given to the Holy 
Spirit in the early church as com¬ 
pared with the relative neglect of 
the Holy Spirit in the modern church. 
He is the explanation of the power of 
the apostolic church. Miracles were 
the order of the day, because they 
made room in their churches for this 
blessed presence. 

“All of the movements of the Old 
Testament were a march towards 
Pentecost,” some one says. In the 
New Testament this sacred, brood¬ 
ing presence fills the life of our 
Lord, dominates the work of the 
twelve, surprises the world at Pente¬ 
cost, and lives in th ■ church to-day. 
— H. Booth Smith, D.D. 

1148. Cannot Know Himself By 

Himself. 

Only God knows how sinful sin 
is. Therefore it is only when God 
tells men about the “exceeding sinful¬ 
ness of sin” (Rom. 7: 13) that men 
can appreciate the blackness of their 
own sin. The ancient philosophers 
said to man, “Know Thyself;” but 
it was an impossible command. 
Man cannot know himself by himself; 
only God can show him what man is. 

And that is why God has sent the 


Holy Spirit—who is God himself— 
into the world of lost and spiritually 
dead men. The Holy Spirit is ready 
to give men an X-ray photograph of 
themselves. When he does this, then 
and then only do they see the utter 
blackness of their own hearts. When 
the Holy Spirit turns his light in 
upon us we see our own hearts so 
black, as Billy Sunday has said, that 
they would “make a black mark upon 
a piece of anthracite .—Charles G. 
Trumbull. 

1149. Holy Spirit Like a Dove. 

When Nansen started on his 
Arctic Expedition he took with him a 
carrier pigeon, strong and fleet of 
wing; and after two years—two 
years in the desolation of the Arctic 
regions—he one day wrote a tiny 
little message and tied it under the 
pigeon’s wing, and let it loose to 
travel two thousand miles to Norway; 
and oh! what miles! what desola¬ 
tion ! not a living creature! ice, ice, 
ice, snow, and death. But he took 
the trembling little bird and flung 
her up from the ship, up into the 
icy cold. Three circles she made, 
and then, straight as an arrow she 
shot south; one thousand miles over 
ice, one thousand miles over the 
frozen wastes of ocean, and at last 
dropped into the lap of the explorer’s 
wife. She knew, by the arrival of 
the bird, that it was all right in the 
dark night of the North. So with 
the coming of the Holy Spirit, the 
Heavenly Dove, the disciples knew 
that Christ was alive, for his coming 
and His manifest working were 
proofs of it .—Joyful News Maga¬ 
zine. 

1150. Parable of the Sponge. 

Theodore Monod, speaking of a 
.man, being in Christ and having 
Christ in him said, “I take a sponge 
and put it in the water, but see! the 
water is also in the sponge!” If you 




28 o 


HOLY SPIRIT A WARNING BELL 


are in the Spirit, you should be filled 
with the Spirit. Keep in the Spirit all 
the time and let the Spirit fill you 
all the time. But somebody raised 
the objection that man was sinful 
and imperfect, and asked what was 
to be done with his sin. Mr. Monod, 
replying in his inimitable way said, 
“You take a sponge and you plunge 
it into the water, and when it is 
under the water what happens? 
Bubble! bubble! bubble! bubble! 
The fact of its being in the water 
drives all the air out!” Oh! I love 
to see Christian people when they 
begin to bubble! bubble! bubble! 
bubble! when the inferior thing is 
expelled by the superior, the less by 
the greater!”— Rev. W. Y. Fullerton. 

1151. A Good Monopoly. 

I used to believe that a few men 
had a monopoly on the Holy Spirit. 
Now I know that the Holy Spirit has 
a monopoly on a few men .—James 
H. McConkey. 

1152. Holy Ghost Convicts of Sin. 

John Wesley used to ask his young 
men whom he had sent out on pro¬ 
bation to preach two questions: 
“Has any one been converted?” and 
“Did any one get mad?” If the 
answer was “No,” he told them he 
did not think the Lord had called 
them to preach the Gospel, and he 
sent them about their business. When 
the Holy Ghost convicts of sin, 
people are either converted or—they 
don’t like it and get mad.— D. L. 
Moody. 

1153. Holy Spirit’s Quiet Work. 

Sometimes quarrymen find a very 
hard kind of rock. They pick little 
groves for the iron wedges, and then 
with great sledge-hammers drive 
these wedges into the hard rock. 
But sometimes this fails to split the 
rock. Then they go at it in another 
way. The iron wedges are re¬ 


moved from the grooves. Then little 
wooden ones of a very hard fiber 
are selected. These sharp-edged, 
well-made wooden wedges are first 
soaked in water. Then they are put 
in the groove tightly while wet and 
water is kept in the grooves. The 
water and the wedges are left to do 
their work. The damp wood swells. 
The granite heart of rock can’t stand 
against this new pressure. It takes 
longer than the iron wedges and 
sledge, but after a while the rock 
yields and lies split wide open. The 
water works on the wood, and that in 
turn on the stone. The iron wedges 
sometimes fail, but the wood and 
water never fail. It seems to be a 
part of our make-up to make plans, 
and to count on the plans. And 
planning does much. We don’t want 
to plan less, but to learn to depend 
more in our planning on the soft, 
noiseless, but resistless power of the 
Holy Spirit.— S. D, Gordon. 

1154. Elocution, or Holy Ghost. 

Bishop Simpson was preaching in 
Memorial Hall, London. He spoke 
in a quiet tone, without gesture; 
but before he was through the whole 
assembly, as if moved by an ir¬ 
resistible impulse, rose, remained 
standing for a second or two, and 
then sank back into their seats. 

A professor of elocution was there. 
A friend who had observed him, and 
who knew that he had come to 
criticize, when the service was over 
asked him, “Well, what do you think 
of the bishop’s elocution?” 

“Elocution?” said the professor. 
“That man doesn’t want elocution; 
he’s got the Holy Ghost .”—John F. 
Cowan, D.D. 

1155. Holy Spirit a Warning Bell. 

An electric bell tingled sharply be¬ 
side the florist’s desk. “Frost!” he 
said, and ran hatless to the green¬ 
houses. “The fires had sunk,” the 



THE TRINITY SCRIPTURAL 


281 


florist explained on his return. “The 
watchman had fallen asleep. But 
for my frost bell I’d have lost 
hundreds o.f dollars. Frost bells 
are now pretty generally used by 
florists and fruit growers,” he went 
on. “An electrical contrivance is 
connected with a thermometer and 
when the mercury falls to a certain 
point—you regulate this danger point 
to suit yourself—a bell rings a warn¬ 
ing in your house or office. Many a 
winter crop of fruit and flowers has 
been saved in the past year or two 
by the clever little frost bell.” Have 
we realized that the Holy Spirit is 
ready to be our frost bell ?—The 
Standard. 

1156. “He’s Got the Holy Ghost!” 

Take the case of Moody (among 
many like Euther, Calvin, Knox, 
Wesley, Whitefield, Edwards, Fin¬ 
ney). The only rational account of 


Moody’s power (or Billy Sunday’s) 
is the hypothesis of the Holy Spirit. 
A friend of his said that he was 
the “biggest fool that ever lived in 
East Northfield, the most ignorant 
and the most stupid man”; yet he led 
more than ope hundred thousand 
souls to Christ. 

One day a woman came to Mr. 
Moody, during his pastorate of the 
great church in Chicago, and asked 
him whether he had the power of the 
Spirit. She suggested that she would 
pray for him, whereupon he was al¬ 
most offended, suggesting that she 
would better pray for the crowds at¬ 
tending his ministry. 

She did pray with him for them, 
and for him, that he might be emp¬ 
tied of self and filled with God; and 
that was the beginning of Moody’s 
wonderful power as an evangelist. 
—Herbert Booth Smith, D.D. 


XVII. TRINITY SUNDAY 

(The Sunday after Whitsunday) 


1157. The Trinity. 

A converted Indian gave the follow¬ 
ing reason for his belief in the 
Trinity: “We go down to the river 
in winter, and we see it covered 
with snow; we dig through the snow, 
and we come to the ice; we chop 
through the ice, and we come to the 
water; snow is water, ice is water, 
water is water; therefore the three 
are one.” 

1158. The Triune God. 

Is a conception for which we can 
never find a complete illustration; 
but it is a suggestive fact that every 
ray of sunlight is composed of three 
kinds of rays, which perform three 
distinct kinds of work; the heat- 
rays, the light-rays, and the actinic, 
or chemical rays 


1159. The Trinity Scriptural. 

If anything is true, it is true that 
the doctrine of the Trinity is re¬ 
vealed in the Scripture. And this 
doctrine of the Trinity—of the three 
substances or persons in the one 
divine essence—is not a doctrine 
metaphysically valueless, which be¬ 
longs to the rubbish of dusty the¬ 
ologies, but is a doctrine vital. It is 
a doctrine necessary to my thought 
of God. God the Father is the in¬ 
finite One; God the Son is He 
through whom the infinite One passes 
into objectivity; God the Holy Spirit 
is He through whom Diety comes into 
spiritual relation with myself.— Rev. 
Wayland Hoyt, D.D. 



282 


dispensation of the spirit 


1160. Dispensation of the Spirit. 

The old economy may be regarded 
as the dispensation of the Father. 
The thirty years of the incarnation 
were the dispensation of the Son. 
Then came the dispensation of the 
Spirit, in which we are living, the 
end of which will be “the restitution 
off all things'.” The secret of a 
fervent and successful Christian life 
is to honor the Holy Ghost. In Him 
we have also the presence of the 
Father and the Son from whom He 
proceedeth; but God as officially 
present is so in the person of the 
Holy Ghost. Let us therefore honor 
Him.— Rev. D. J. Burrell, D.D. 

1161. Mystery of the Trinity. 

An infidel was scoffing at the doc¬ 
trine ofl the Trinity* He turned 
to a gentleman, and said, “Do you 
believe such nonsense?” “Tell me 
how that candle burns,” said the 
other. “Why the tallow, the cotton, 
and the atmospheric air produce 
light,” said the infidel. “Then they 
make one light, do they not?” “Yes.” 
“Will you tell me how there are three, 
and yet but one! light?” “No,” I 
cannot.” “But you believe it?” The 
scoffer was put to shame. 

1162 Trinity in Unity. 

The light of the sun, the light of 
the moon, and the light of the air, 
in nature and substance are one and 
the same light, and yet they are three 
distinct lights: the light of the sun 
being of itself, and from none: the 
light of the moon from the sun; and 
the light of the air from them both. 
So the Divine Nature is one, and 
the persons three; subsisting, after 
a diverse manner, in one and the same 
Nature.— R. Newion. 

1163. Symbol of the Trinity. 

This symbol, light, is composed of 
three parts, one visible and two in¬ 


visible ; first, illuminative rays, which 
affect our vision, and by their 
Fraunhofer lines bring to us a knowl¬ 
edge of the substance of the suns 
from which they spring; second, 
chemical rays, which cause growth, 
and give the results of photography; 
and, third, the principle called heat, 
separate from either. So is God re¬ 
vealed—three persons in one God. 
No man hath seen the Father, or the 
Holy Ghost; but the Son has been 
seen of men. Each of these com¬ 
ponent parts is capable of separate 
and independent action. Each can 
be sundered from the other, and 
still retain its full efficiency. The 
illuminative rays still stream with 
their incredible swiftness, still bloom 
with incomprehensible color, and 
still bear their records of other 
worlds, after the other two component 
parts have been turned to other work. 
There could be no other so happy 
illustration of the incomprehensible 
triune nature of God.— Dr. H. W. 
Warren. 

1164. General Belief In. 

That nearly all the pagan nations 
of antiquity, in their various theo¬ 
logical systems, acknowledge a kind 
of trinity in the divine nature, has 
been fully evinced by those learned 
men who have made the heathen 
mythology the subject of their elabor¬ 
ate inquiries. The almost universal 
prevalence of this doctrine in the 
Gentile kingdoms must be considered 
as a strong argument in favor of its 
truth. The doctrine itself bears 
such striking internal marks of a 
divine original, and is so very un¬ 
likely to have been the invention of 
mere human reason, that there is no 
way of accounting for the general 
adoption of so singular a belief, but 
by supposing that it was revealed by 
God to the early patriarchs, and that 
it was transmitted by them to their 
posterity.— Bp. Tomline. 



WESLEY ON THE TRINITY 


283 


1165. Mystery of Trinity. 

St. Augustine tells us, that, while 
busied in writing his discourses on 
the Trinity, he wandered along the 
seashore, lost in meditation. Sud¬ 
denly he beheld a child, who, having 
dug a hole in the sand, appeared to 
be bringing water from the sea to fill 
it. Augustine inquired what was the 
object of his task. He replied, that 
he intended to empty into this cavity 
all the waters of the great deep. 
“Impossible!” exclaimed Augustine. 
“Not more impossible” replied the 
child, “than for thee, O Augustine! 
to explain the mystery on which 
thou art now meditating.” 

1166. A Chinese Error. 

A Chinese assistant in charge of 
an out-station chapel had more zeal 
than knowledge. He had little knowl¬ 
edge Df the puzzling and elusive 
ideographs with which the patient 
Chinese scholars record their thoughts 
and the merchants their sales. Hav¬ 
ing spent most of. his life on the 
river as a boatman, his thinking was 
not very clear. To the surprise of 
the visiting missionary, a large sign 
was found posted up on the wall: 
“Sunday, the Christians will worship 
God the Father; on Wednesday, God 
the Son; and on Saturday evening, 
God the Holy Spirit.” The sign was 
taken down, and the assistant in¬ 
structed a little more fully in the 
doctrine of the Trinity. 

1167. The Three Persons. 

The three persons in the blessed 
Trinity are distinguished, but not divi¬ 
ded; three substances, but one es¬ 
sence. This is a divine riddle, where 
one makes three, and three make but 
one. Our narrow thoughts can no 
more comprehend the Trinity in 
Unity than a little nutshell will hold 
all the water in the sea. Let me 
shadow it out by this similitude:. 
In the body of the sun there is the 


substance of the sun, the beams, and 
the heat. The beams are begotten 
of the sun, the heat proceeds both 
from the sun and the beams; but 
these three, though different, are not 
divided: they all three make but one 
sun. So, in the blessed Trinity, the 
Son is begotten of the Father, the 
Holy Ghost proceeds from both; and 
though they are three distinct persons, 
yet but one God.— T. Watson. 

1168. Wesley On the Trinity. 

At the command of your soul, your 
hand is lifted up. But who is able 
to account for this?—for the connec¬ 
tion between the actions of the mind 
and the outward actions? Nay, 
who can account for muscular motion 
at all, in any instance of it whatever? 
When one of the most ingenious 
physicians in England had finished 
his lecture on that head, he added, 
“Now, gentlemen, I have told you all 
the discoveries of our enlightened 
age. And now, if you understand one 
jot of the matter, you understand 
more than I do.” The short of the 
matter is this: those who will not 
believe anything but what they can 
comprehend must not believe that 
there is a sun in the firmament; that 
there is even light shining around 
them; that there is air, though it 
encompasses them on every side; that 
there is any earth, though they stand 
upon it. They must not believe that 
they have a soul; no, nor that they 
have a body.—/. Wesley. 

1169. Trinity Illustrated. 

When St. Patrick first preached the 
Christian faith in Ireland before a 
powerful chief and his people, when 
he spoke of one God and the Trinity 
the chief asked how one could be in 
three. St. Patrick, instead of at¬ 
tempting a theological definition of 
the faith, thought a simple image 
would best serve to enlighten a 
simple people, and stooping to the 



284 


THREE IN ONE 


earth, he plucked from the green sod 
a shamrock, and holding up the trefoil 
before them, he bade them there be¬ 
hold one in three. The chief, struck 
by the illustration, asked at once to 
be baptized, and all his people fol¬ 
lowed his example.— Lover. 

1170. Trinity and Doctrine. 

He who goes about to speak of the 
mystery of the Trinity, and does it 
by words and names of man’s in¬ 
vention, talking of essences and ex¬ 
istences, hypostases and personalities, 
priorities in ccequalities, and unity in 
pluralities, may amuse himself and 
build a tabernacle in his head, and 
talk of something he knows not what; 
but the good man who feels the 
power of the Father, to whom the 
Son is become wisdom, sanctification, 
and righteousness, and in whose heart 
the Spirit is shed abroad—this man, 
though he understand not these things 
does understand the Christian doc¬ 
trine of the Trinity.— T. 

1171. Trinities Acknowledged. 

All of us acknowledge trinities. 
Trinity in our own make-up-body, 
mind, and soul. Body with which we 
move, mind with which we think, 
soul with which we love. Three, yet 
one man. Trinity in the air—light, 
heat, moisture—yet one atmosphere. 
Trinity in the court room—three 
judges on the bench, but one court. 

Of course, all the illustrations are 
defective for the reason that the 
natural cannot fully illustrate the 
spiritual. But suppose an ignorant 
man should come up to the chemist 
and say: “I deny what you say about 
the water and about the air; they 
are not made of different parts. The 
air is one; I breath it every day. 
The water is one; I drink it every 
day. You can’t deceive me about the 
elements that go to make up the air 
and the water.” The chemist would 


say: “You come up into my labora¬ 
tory and I will demonstrate this whole 
thing to you.” The ignorant man goes 
into the chemist’s laboratory and sees 
for himself. He learns that the water 
is one and the air is one, but they 
are made of different parts. So here 
is a man says: “I can’t understand 
the doctrine of the Trinity.” God 
says: “You come up here into the lab¬ 
oratory after your death; and you 
will see—you will see it explained, 
you will see it demonstrated.” The 
ignorant man cannot understand the 
chemistry of the water and the air 
until he goes into the laboratory, and 
he will never understand the Trinity 
until he goes into heaven. The ig¬ 
norance of the man who cannot un¬ 
derstand the chemistry of the air 
and water does not change the compo¬ 
sition of air and water. Because we 
cannot understand the Trinity does 
that change the fact? 

1172. Properties of the Trinity. 

As the sun has three distinct prop¬ 
erties—as the globe, the light, and the 
heat—and though each of these keeps 
its distinct traits, there is but one sun; 
so in God there is but one God. As 
the sun shows himself by his beams, 
so God the Father shows Himself 
by His Son, Jesus Christ, who is 
the Word and eternal Wisdom. As 
the sun by his heat makes us feel his 
force, so God makes us feel His 
Holy Spirit, which i§ His infinite 
power.— Cawdray. 

1173* Three in One. 

The word “trinity” (from the Latin 
“trinus” meaning threefold) is not in 
the Scriptures, but the truth that it 
indicates is there distinctly. The doc¬ 
trine is, indeed, ascertained from 
Scripture: substantially all that we 
can know in these premises must be 
obtained thence. 



GODi EVERYWHERE PRESENT 


285 


1174. God Invisible But Felt. 

A poor deaf boy had been taught 
that there is a God. One day he went 
to look for God but could not find 
Him. He told his teacher, “There is 
no God—no.” The teacher took a 
pair of bellows, and blew a puff at 
the boy’s hand, which was red with 
cold. This made him angry. The 
teacher, looking at the pipe of the 
bellows, said, “I see nothing—there is 
no wind—no.” the boy was first 
astonished, then catching the thought, 
cried out, joyfully, “God like wind, 
God like wind.”— C. Elizabeth. 

1175. God is Omnipotent. 

Thomas Edison says: “No one can 
study chemistry and see the wonder¬ 
ful way in which certain elements 
combine with the nicety of the most 
delicate machine ever invented, and 
not come to the inevitable conclusion 
that there is a Big Engineer who is 
running tkis universe.” At the great 
Yerkes observatory at Lake Geneva, 
the operator, sitting quietly in his 
chair, touches a button and the huge 
dome begins to revolve. Another, 
and the whole floor rises noiselessly. 
Still another, and the gigantic tube 
begins slowly to turn. When the 
instrument is pointed at a star, the 
touch of another button sets clock¬ 
work in operation that moves the 
telescope in conformity to the appar¬ 
ent movement of the star. One man 
was operating the whole gigantic 
affair. It was just a faint picture of 
the “Big Engineer running His uni¬ 
verse.”— S. S. Times. 

1176. God Everywhere Present. 

A heathen philosopher once asked 
a Christian, “Where is God?” The 
Christian answered. “Let me first 
ask of you, Where is He not?”— 
Arrowsmith. 

1177. God is Love. 

Our God is Love. The very name 
of God is a wonderful treasure-house, 


full of most precious love-thoughts, 
when we understand its meaning and 
history. When the old Anglo-Saxons 
were converted to Christianity they 
sought for some word in their own 
language which would express the 
character of the divine Being as re¬ 
vealed to them in the Bible. They 
thought of His kindness, His mercy, 
His forgiveness, His patience, His 
love, and asked, “What name will 
best express these attributes?” And 
so they called Him Good; and that 
is the origin of the name we use 
to-day. It is simply Good shortened 
into God. What a wonderous treas¬ 
ure-mine it is! 

1178. Doctrine of the Trinity. 

Is purely an object of faith. Where 
reason cannot wade, faith must be 
content to swim. 

Reason never shows itself so un¬ 
reasonable, as when it ceases to 
reason about things which are above 
reason. 

“The Doctrine of the Trinity is 
above reason, but not against it.” 

1179. The Trinity. 

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! 

All Thy Works shall praise Thy Name, 
In earth and sky and sea; 

Holy, Holy, Holy, Merciful and Mighty! 

God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity! 

—Bishop Reginald Heber. 

1180. Columbus Names Island of 

Trinity. 

Columbus, there is reason to be¬ 
lieve, was a pious man. It was an 
appropriate evidence of his honoring 
the blessed Three in One, to whom he 
looked for guidance in his enterprise, 
that on first seeing the three peaks 
of the Island of Trinidad, on the 
morning of Trinity Sunday, 1498, he 
gave it the name of La Trinidada 
(the Trinity.) 

1181. Trinity Beyond Comprehen¬ 

sion. 

“You are now alone,” said Ruther¬ 
ford, in writing to a friend, “but you 



286 


FIND GOD IN HIS MANIFESTATIONS 


may have for the seeking three always 
in your company—the Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit.” 

“I commit myself,” said Bengel, 
when seriously ill, “to my faithful 
Creator, my intimate Redeemer, my 
true and approved Comforter.” 

1182. Our God is Omnipotent. 

There is an eastern fable of a boy 
having challenged his teacher to 
prove the existence of God by work¬ 
ing a miracle. The teacher procured 
a large vessel filled with earth, in 
which he deposited a kernel in the 
boy’s presence, and bade him pay 
attention. In the place where the 
kernel was put a green shoot soon 
appeared. The shoot became a stem; 
the stem put forth leaves and 
branches, which soon spread over the 
whole apartment. It then budded with 
blossoms, which dropping off, left 
golden fruit in their place, and in the 
short space of an hour there appeared 
a noble tree in the place of the seed. 
The youth, overcome with amazement, 
exclaimed: “Now I know there is a 
God, for I have seen His power!” 
The priest smiled at him, and said, 
“Simple child, do you only now be¬ 
lieve? Does not what you have just 
seen take place in innumerable in¬ 
stances, year after year, only by a 
slower process? It it the less won¬ 
derful on that account? He is the 
Lord and changes not, His mercy and 
power are ever the same .”—The 
Quiver . 

1183. God Fills All Things. 

No one thing in all nature has had 
its full meaning disclosed. God 
burns in every bush; His house is by 
the seashore; His tabernacle is in the 
stars; His temple is in the tiniest 
flower that blooms. The day is com¬ 
ing when the whole earth shall be 
the mountain of God.— Dr. Joseph 
Parker. 


1184. Find God in His Manifes¬ 
tations. 

It was a hot August afternoon, 
and the clouds had long withheld 
their shadow and their rain, and a 
little flower lay dying. As it lay 
there looking piteously up into the 
heavens, and longing for refreshment, 
a drop fell down, and then another, 
and another, and another, all about 
it, and fed its roots, and the flower, 
refreshened and revived and brought 
back to life, lifted up its face and 
said, “O Drops, I thank you, you have 
saved my life.” 

And the drops said, “Thank not 
us; the Clouds sent us.” And the 
Flower lifted up its face toward the 
heavens and said, “O Cloud, in thy 
summer glory, I thank thee; thou 
hast saved my life.” 

And the Cloud said, “Thank not 
me, the Sun drew me from the ocean, 
and the Wind wafted me here; 
thank Sun, thank Wind.” 

And the Flower, perplexed and 
puzzled, turned its face hither and 
thither, saying to the Sun and to the 
Wind, “O Sun, I thank thee,—thou 
hast brought me this water from the 
far-off ocean; I thank thee, O Wind, 
that on thy wings thou didst bear it 
here for my refreshment.” 

The Sun and the Wind said, “Thank 
not us; thank God Who gave the 
Ocean and the Sun and the Wind, 
and caused the drop to fall.” 

And then the Christianity-instructed 
Flower lifted up its face and said, 
“O God, I thank Thee who didst make 
the Ocean, and didst give the Sun 
its power to draw the Cloud from 
the Ocean, and didst give the Winds 
their wings to bring the Clouds hither, 
and didst drop Drops from the 
Clouds that brought me back my 
life.” 

God hides Himself. Let it be our 
joy to find Him in the manifestations 
of His love, and make all our grati¬ 
tude to nature, to nation, to father, 



WILLING, WORKING, WITNESSING 


to mother, to companion, to friend, 
thanksgiving to Him. So may we 
turn, in the alchemy of piety, joy to 
gratitude. 

1185. The Reality of Gad. 

The blind man is no judge of the 
paintings of Rubens and Titian. The 
deaf man is insensible to the beauty 
of Handel’s music. The Greenlander 
can have but a faint notion of the 
climate of the tropics. The Aus¬ 
tralian savage can form but a remote 
conception of a locomotive engine, 
however well you may describe it. 
There is no place in their minds to 
take in these things. They have no 
set of thoughts that can comprehend 
them. They have no mental fingers 
that can grasp them. And just in 
the same way the best and brightest 
ideas that man can form of God, 
compared to the reality that we shall 
see one day, are weak and faint 
indeed.— Ryle. 

1186. God’s Nature Love. 

A little girl was one morning 
reading with her mother in the New 
Testament, and this was one of the 
verses of the chapter; “For God so 
loved the world, that He gave His 
only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth on Him should not perish, 
but have eternal life.” Stopping for 
a moment in the reading, the mother 
asked, “Don’t you think it is very 
wonderful?” The child, looking sur¬ 
prised, replied in the negative. The 
mother, somewhat astonished, vref- 
peated the question, to which the little 
daughter replied, “Why, no, Mama; 
if would be wonderful if it were any¬ 
body else; but it is just like God.”— 
Children’s Visitor. 



1187. God Fills Heaven and Earth. 

A little boy being asked, “How 
many Gods are there?” replied, “One.” 
“How do you know that?” “Be¬ 
cause,” said the boy, “there is only 
room for one; for he fills heaven 
and earth.” 

1188. Willing, Working, Witness¬ 

ing. 

It has been suggested that the three 
different offices of the members of 
the Godhead, the Trinity, may be 
stated as follows: “The Father wills; 
the Son works; the Spirit witnesses.” 
It must be borne in mind that this 
it not a hard and fast division; for 
the Father and the Spirit work as 
well as the Son (John 5 : 17; 14: 10) ; 
and the Son witnessed to the Father 
during His earthly ministry (John 
17:6, 26); and still other passages 
show the overlapping, as we may call 
it, of the distinctive offices of Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit. 

But the phrase helps us to remem¬ 
ber that: 

The wonderful plan of redemption 
for a lost world originated in the 
will of the Father (John 3: 16; 14: 
24, 31: 17:2, 4; Heb. 10:7, 9). 

The Son is the one who worked out 
and completed the redemption of man¬ 
kind, as shown in many Scriptures; 
Matthew 1:21; John 1:29; 17:4; 
19:30. 

The Holy Spirit is the great witness 
to Christ and His finished work as 
completing the will of the Father 
for the redemption of the world, as 
fully brought out in the Scripture. 

A single passage in which the three 
offices of the members of the Godhead 
are stated is Hebrews 10: 10, 12, 14, 
15 .—Charles G. Trumbull. 



288 


IMPURITY IS WEAKNESS 


XVIII. MOTHER’S DAY 

(Second Sunday in May.) 


1189. Bushels of Diamonds. 

The striking saying of Billy Sun¬ 
day will find hearty response in many 
hearts: “Mothers and teachers of 
children fill places so great that there 
isn’t an angel in heaven that wouldn’t 
be glad to give a bushel of diamonds 
to come down here and take their 
place.” 

1190. He Made Mothers. 

There is a proverb which says, 
“God could not be everywhere; so 
he made mothers.” It is not good 
theology, but it conveys a noble in¬ 
terpretation of the function of 
motherhood. The divine care for hu¬ 
man lives has no better symbol than 
the unremitting attention which a true 
mother gives to her children. There 
is profound pathos in the lives of 
those little ones whose parents dele¬ 
gate their most sacred duties to hire¬ 
lings. Nurses and governesses can 
never be satisfactory substitutes for 
mothers. A woman who is a mother 
only in the sense that she has given 
birth to children is a libel on the 
holiest office conferred upon her sex. 
The shrinking from motherhood 
which characterizes so many women 
in our time is not only a mark of sel¬ 
fishness; it is also an evidence of an 
inferior judgment about the way to 
be happy. Felicity belongs only to 
those women who frankly accept the 
natural terms of wifehood, and by 
bearing and nourishing children enter 
into fellowship with God’s plan of 
setting the solitary in families. 

1191. One Mother. 

Many will recall the words of 
Kate Douglas Wiggin: “Most of all 
the other beautiful things in life come 
by twos and threes, by dozens and 


hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, 
sunsets, rainbows, brothers and sis¬ 
ters, aunts and cousins, but only one 
mother in all the wide world.” 

1192. Impurity is Weakness. 

The lesson of purity is a Mother’s 
Day lesson. Purity is strength. Im¬ 
purity is weakness. Let the day 
remind us of the duty of purity. As 
has been said, impurity is weakness. 
A slight storm laid low a tall well- 
built oak. Then it was discovered 
that the tree consisted of a shell, 
its heart eaten away by the canker 
of rot. An insignificant stroke of 
disease carried to his grave a man, 
tall, well-proportioned; apparently 
his vitality had been wasted away by 
the use of. alcohol. A man pro¬ 
fessedly standing for his honesty in 
business, occupying a prominent posi¬ 
tion in a Christian church, fell before 
a gust of financial temptation. An 
analysis of his character showed that 
he was like the tree, mostly external 
shell. His character resembled the 
physical frame of the man who died. 
The tree thought it was strong be¬ 
cause it had not been tested. The 
first man boasted of his health 
because he had never beeen sick. The 
second man did not expect to fall 
because he had not discovered how 
weak he was. 

The Christian is peculiar because 
he is committed to holiness. He has 
been set apart, sanctified, is “called 
to be a saint.” He may be far from 
real sainthood now but the obligation 
to attain it is upon him. This he 
jknows and feels. He also knows 
that he must seek to become a saint 
or he will soon cease to be a Chris¬ 
tian. By every motive he is moved 
to press toward the mark of a high 



MOTHERHOOD AT ITS BEST 


289 


calling in Christ. That means, 
pledges him to watchfulness against 
evil from every quarter.— H. 

1193. Motherhood At Its Best. 

An influential minister of our 
country who has long declared the 
Gospel of Christ with persuasive 
eloquence and fruitful results, has 
given us the following from his own 
life-experience: “I am thinking of 
an Elect Lady who sat in her invalid 
chair at ninety-three, with veiled eyes 
and palsied hands, but superannuated? 
Oh, no! I hear her now, singing in 
a quavering voice: 

“On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand, 
And cast a wistful eye 

To Canaan’s fair and happy land. 

Where my possessions lie. 

*0, the transporting, rapturous scene, 
That rises to my sight; 

Sweet fields arrayed in living green, 

And rivers of delight.’ 

“By the sweet influence of her 
overcoming faith and patience she was 
unconsciously bringing forth fruit in 
her old age. It was more than 
thirty years ago that she turned the 
bend in the road; but many a time, 
climbing the pupit stairs, I have felt 
her dear hand on my shoulder and 
heard her saying just as she used to, 
‘My son, the Lord be with you!’ ” 
That’s motherhood at its best. Such 
a mother was building for the future; 
and therefore her honored and worthy 
son could truly say, “She being dead 
yet speaketh.”— Rev. W. J. Hart, D.D. 

1194. Mother’s Leading Hand. 

“Oh, mother, when I think of thee, 

‘Tis but a step to Calvary, 

Thy gentle hand upon my brow. 

Is leading me to Jesus now.’’ 

That is the eloquence of sainted 
Motherhood. 


1195. One Mother. 

“As one whom his mother com- 
forteth,” said the prophet Isaiah, as 
expressing the deepest consolation 

19 


possible. The poet expressed his 
feeling thus: 

“Hundreds of stars in the pretty sky; 

Hundreds of shells on the shore to¬ 
gether; 

Hundreds of birds that go singing by, 
Hundreds of bees in the sunny weather. 

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn; 
Hundreds of lambs in the purple clover; 

Hundreds of butterflies out on the lawn; 
But only one mother the wide world 
over.’’ 

1196. Only Singing About Mother. 

“Mr. Smith, hearing music at his 
neighbor’s house, decided he would 
drop in and see how they were. Mr. 
Jones welcomed him and ushered 
him into the parlor, where his daugh¬ 
ter was playing the piano and his son 
was singing. Mr. Smith begged them 
to continue. They consented. The 
first song they selected was ‘Mother.’ 
They sang this very feelingly, and 
then the father joined in the chorus. 
This was followed by ‘Mother 
Machree,’ and others of like senti¬ 
ment. Then they stopped for a while 
and Mr. Jones commented on songs 
about mother—how true they were, 
how dear, and how they loved to 
sing them. Then, as Mrs. Jones 
hadn’t appeared yet, Mr. Smith in¬ 
quired about her state of health. 
“Oh,” said Mr. Jones, ‘she’s well 
enough. She’s in the kitchen doing 
the dishes, but after she has finished 
and has taken in the wood she’ll join 
us.’ ” 

Pertinent illustration! Too perti¬ 
nent, we fear. The husband and 
children in the family may not have 
been intentionally indifferent to the 
toil and care of the mother. There 
are things and experiences in life 
which words will help, but there are 
many things which must have deeds. 
Let us not forget kind words this 
Mother’s Day, but make them real 
and strong by sympathetic deeds.—• 
H, 



290 


THE HEAVEN OF PURITY 


1197. His Mother’s Son. 

There is a story current about the 
late Dr. Theodore L. Cuyler which 
illustrates how a son is to his mother 
the most impoitant thing in the 
world. 

When he was in England he and 
his mother corresponded regularly 
and at great length. 

One day a letter came in which he 
described his presentation to Queen 
Victoria. Mrs. Cuyler read it with 
eagerness, hardly able to wait till 
she had finished before telling some 
one what had happened. When she 
at last got through the letter, she 
hastened to a neighbor’s house, and 
announced: 

“I’ve just got a letter from England 
and do you know? the Queen has 
seen Theodore!” 

1198. The Heaven of Purity. 

A well known friend and counsellor 
of girls says: “Not long ago I 
entered a large department store. On 
one counter I saw some dainty waists 
marked at so low a price that I 
stopped to examine them. ‘Why are 
these sold so cheaply?’ I asked the 
clerk. ‘O,’ she said, ‘they are shop¬ 
worn; you would not notice it at a 
glance, but their freshness is gone; 
so we have to put down the price. 
After a while, if they get more soiled, 
we will toss them over there,’ and 
she pointed to a table whereon lay a 
pile of waists with a placard above, 
telling that they were to be sold below 
even the cost of the material. Around 
this table stood a crowd of people 
pulling over the pile of waists, soil¬ 
ing them still more, then leaving them 
perhaps a tumbled heap upon the 
floor. ‘Those are of the same ma¬ 
terial as these on the counter,’ said 
the clerk, ‘and both are the same as 
these,’ pointing to dainty waists in 
boxes marked at prices more than 
quadruple those upon the table. ‘You 
see,’ she said, ‘people who are par¬ 


ticular don’t want to buy goods that 
are not fresh. They’d rather pay 
more for the same article that has 
not been handled by so many.’ ” 

There is price, there is privilege, 
there is power in purity. There is 
heaven in it: “Blessed are the pure 
in heart, for they shall see God.” 
Think of this on Mother’s Day.— H. 

1199. His Mother’s Life. 

That eminent preacher, Ridhard 
Cecil, of London, tells us that when 
he was a youth he tried his utmost to 
be an infidel; but his mother’s 
beautiful and eloquent Christianity 
was too much for him. He never 
could answer that. 

1200. Mother Responsibility. 

“What will become of us,” said a 
child to his mother, the wife of a 
distinguished man, who was dressed 
for a ball, “if you are going out 
every night?” The reproof was felt 
and she changed her dress and re¬ 
mained with her children. Too often 
this work is committed to hirelings, 
unfitted by nature, education and 
morals for this work, whose sole 
interest is in the compensation they 
are to receive, so that instead of the 
childrens’ characters being formed 
from the highest models, as they 
should be, they are formed from the 
lowest. This mistake is often not 
seen until it is too late for correc¬ 
tion. 

1201. Mother Influence. 

The great naturalist, Cuvier, owed 
his love and devotion to nature to a 
mother who accompanied him to and 
from school, pointing out to him the 
interesting natural objects they met, 
and exciting in him a taste for the 
study of the works of God. 

Blanchard Jerrold paid the follow¬ 
ing touching tribute to a mother just 
laid to rest: “She was the most 
devoted wife I have ever seen in this 



THE HEART OE A QUEEN 


291 


wofld, and a mother whose loving 
eyes no worldly pleasures could ever 
turn for one moment from her chil¬ 
dren.” 

1202. The Heart of a Queen. 

Queen Victoria was once visiting 
one of the large cities of England, 
where a large choir of three or four 
thousand boys and girls were gath¬ 
ered on 3. great wooden platform to 
sing a song of welcome. The next 
morning after the queen had returned 
to her palace, she ordered a telegram 
sent to the mayor of the city. It 
had no reference to the civic formal¬ 
ities or public functions of her visit, 
but was, “The queen wishes to know, 
did the children all get home safely ?” 
No more momentous question can be 
asked by monarch, by nation, or by 
parents: “Will the children reach 
home safely?”— W. N. Hartshorn. 

1203. Mother. 

Delicate, fragile, weak she is not. 

Mother who has loved me long; 

Her strong back’s bowed by bending o’er 
cot 

As child after child there fell to her lot; 
And she thanked the good God for the 
children she got. 

And burdens she bore with a song. 

I thank Thee, God, for her Thou hast given 
To me a man of the sod; 

For me she has prayed and hoped and 
striven, 

For me her heart hast oft been riven; 

O make me worthy of her and heaven, 
And count me a son of God! 

—Rev Titus Lowe. 

1204. What Mother Received. 

“Mother gets up first,” said the 
new office boy. “She lights the fire 
and gets my breakfast so I can get 
here early. Then she gets father up, 
gets his breakfast and sends him off. 
Then she an’ the baby have their 
breakfast.” 

“What is your pay here?” 

“I get $3 a week and father gets 
$3 a day.” 

“How much does your mother get ?” 
“Mother!” he said indignantly, 


“Why she don’t have to work for 
anybody.” 

“Oh, I thought you just told me 
she worked for the whole family 
every morning.” 

“Oh, that’s for us! But there ain't 
no money in that!” 

1205. Honor Thy Mother. 

The symbol of perfection to the 
ordinary child is his or her own 
mother. The mother is the child’s 
divinity. The following anecdote 
puts into words what the average 
child would often like to express. 
Richard’s mother was putting him to 
bed, and as she kissed him good-night, 
she said, “Do you know you are the 
whole world to mamma?” 

“Am I?” he answered, quickly and 
prettily. “Well, then, you’re heaven 
and the north pole to me.”— Rev. 
William J. Hart, D.D. 

1206. A Mother Song. 

Just before he left by special train 
to visit his dying mother, President 
McKinley wrote a telegram which 
probably has done more for the king¬ 
dom of God than any other single 
act of his life. The message read, 
“Tell mother I’ll be there.” 

Rev. Charles M. Fillmore, Indian¬ 
apolis, Ind., read this message and 
saw the possibilities that lay in it. 
He caught the phrase and wrote his 
hymn, “Tell Mother I’ll Be There.” 

Charles M. Alexander took this 
song with him on an evangelistic 
tour around the world, and wherever 
he sang it the touching message 
reached the hearts of men. In the 
Welsh revival the only Alexander 
song carried by the Welsh singers 
was this song by Fillmore. 

Evan Roberts, the Welsh evangelist, 
remarked that the song touched more 
hearts and did more for Christ in the 
revival than any other song that was 
sung. 

The words of the song are familiar. 



292 


THE SOLDIER'S MOTHER 


1207. The Baby’s Sky. 

The nurture of the child’s soul be¬ 
gins when the nurture of its body 
begins. A mother is conscious of the 
responsibilities, at the birth of her 
child, that are not merely physical 
nurture and carefulness. Her love 
transcends the animal, and Hope 
hangs a star over every cradle. She 
looks through the animal at his soul. 
She is in a sense his soul, his will, 
his mind, his all. “It is given to 
mothers,” says Bushnell, “to plant the 
angel in men.” 

“The baby has no skies 
But mother’s eyes; 

Nor any God above 
But mother’s love; 

His angel sees the Father’s face, 

But he the Mother’s full of grace.” 

And so, mothers, we have led you 
to the mother’s task. She is the first 
and greatest interpreter of God to 
her babe. Kneeling beside his crib 
each day, she becomes his object 
lesson in prayer. She exemplifies the 
faith she means to teach. The faith- 
filled home needs no special conver¬ 
sation on religion, but is filled with 
religious conversation from which the 
child gets his vocabulary. Faith be¬ 
comes a matter of home environment 
and parental conduct.— Rev. Robbi - 
son P. Bennett. 

1208. The Soldier’s Mother. 

A British lad was buried in far¬ 
away Macedonia when he was but 
twenty-three. Brilliant as a student, 
he looked forward to a teaching 
career. He had been under the in¬ 
fluence of some of the master minds 
of his country, and had learned how 
to work hard, to live well, to achieve 
worthily and to suffer bravely. The 
war bugles sounded, and, putting 
aside his books, he donned his uni¬ 
form. Soon he was sent to Gallipoli. 
“He was with his men as cool as if 
he had been on parade when he was 
severely wounded. He was taken 


back to the dressing station, very 
weak, but with a smile on his face.” 
The last conscious word of the youth 
was “Mother.” What were the mem¬ 
ories with him in that final hour 
on earth? Have we not the answer 
in the opening line of William L. 
Stidger’s poefn, “Who?” 

“I wonder who it was that leaned above 
me in the night, 

Her anxious eyes half-filled with tears 
That fell upon my fevered face? Who 
touched my brow 

With cooling hands? Ah, memory of 
childhood years 
With whispers low 
That come and go; 

It was my Mother.” 

Even thus did the memory of his 
mother go with the “student in arms” 
as he went away from college halls 
to battlefields. Yes, and also as he 
went into the hospital and into the 
“valley of the shadow of death.”— 
Rev. IV. J. Hart, D.D. 

1209. Emoluments of Motherhood. 

The emoluments of motherhood 
were never greater than to-day. 
Poets have sung of the debt which 
the race owes to its mothers, and 
every true man has- spoken with un¬ 
stinted praise of his own mother. 
The obligations of society to mother¬ 
hood have had clear recognition. 
We shall soon discern that the women 
who bear children are the most de¬ 
termining factor in shaping modern 
civilization .—The Christian Observer. 

1210. “The God of my Mother.” 

In the middle of the last century 
Sir David Brewster went to Paris 
to visit his friend Arago, the astron¬ 
omer, who was completing the circuit 
of his life. Of their interview he 
said: “We conversed on the marvels 
/of creation; and the name of God 
was introduced. This led Arago to 
complain of the difficulties which his 
reason experienced in understanding 
God. 




MATERNAL FEELING OF THE SOLDIER 293 


“But,” said I, “it is still more dif¬ 
ficult not to understand Him;”’ and 
he did not deny it. 

“Only in this case,” said he, “it is 
quite impossible for me to understand 
the God of the philosophers.” 

I replied, “We are not dealing with 
Him, although I believe that true 
philosophy conducts us to faith in 
God; but I wish to speak of the 
God of the Christian.” Whereupon 
he exclaimed, “You mean the God of 
my mother! How much comfort she 
had in kneeling before Him!” He 
said no more; but his heart had 
spoken. 

Thus a man when left to his better 
instincts, true to his conscience and 
the light of the Oracles, finds his 
way to God.— Rev. D. J. Burrell, D.D. 

1211. Loved Me Over It. 

At Maule, near Paris. France, trees 
are grown for umbrella handles, 
canes, etc. Five hundred acres are 
planted with the ash, oak, maple, 
chestnut. At one year they are cut 
back, so that there will be several 
branches. The next year different 
designs are traced upon the bark. 
When the bark is stripped off the 
following year the designs are found 
upon the wood ready for use. This 
is what the Mother does with her 
boys and girls, determines their 
worth. Mother is the heart of the 
home, while father is the head. 

The mother-love tides us over many 
difficulties. A little child fell and 
was hurt; but she said of her father, 
“He just loved me over it.” The 
boy was crippled; but the mother 
encouraged him to try to walk again, 
with hand and kiss and song. 

1212. Dedicated. 

When young Matthew Simpson 
trembling broke the news to his 
widowed mother that he felt called to 
preach, which would necessitate his 
leaving home, she exclaimed with 


tears of joy: “Oh, my son, I have 
prayed for this hour every day since 
you were born. At that time, we 
dedicated you to the Christian minis¬ 
try.” 

1213. The One Argument. 

When Richard Cecil was a youth, 
he tried his utmost to be an infidel; 
but there was one argument he could 
never answer; it was the beautiful, 
eloquent Christian life of his mother. 
That held him fast. 

Another, Dr. Newman Hall, had a 
similar experience. Against all the 
solicitations and seductions of in¬ 
fidelity there stood the holy life of his 
mother. He could not get away 
from that. 

1214. A Mother’s Prayer. 

Another great teacher, Professor 
George Wilson of Edinburgh, Scot¬ 
land, who succeeded in putting him¬ 
self into the life of his students in a 
marvelous way, in spite of the pain 
that tortured him all through his 
professional life, liked to tell lovingly 
of his debt to his mother. One of 
his first memories was of the evening 
visits paid by her to the bed in which 
he slept with his twin brother. As 
she bent over the boys, she would 
whisper the prayer of Jacob: “The 
God who hath fed me all my life 
long unto this day, the angel who hath 
redeemed me from all evil, bless the 
lads!” George was fascinated by the 
words, which he heard one night 
when the mother thought he was 
asleep. After that he used to lie 
awake, pretending to be asleep, that 
he might hear the earnest prayer. 
The thought of the petition so often 
repeated was a benediction to him 
throughout his life.— Rev. John T. 
Farris, D.D. 

1215. Maternal Feeling of the 

Soldier. 

Lieutenant Coningsby Dawson, 
writing on “The Motherhood of the 



294 


THE POWER OF PURITY 


Soldier” in the Red Cross Magazine 
says: “It sounds absurd, I know, but 
it seems to me up front we fighting 
men contrived to get a kind of 
motherly feeling for one another. 
,We were all so weak when considered 
separately, so liable to wounds and 
death; we were only strong 
when we stood together. This 
maternal feeling which developed 
showed itself in a special direction 
when the danger was most intense. 
The moment before an attack the 
uppermost thought which most of us 
had and which some of us expressed 
was ‘I wish, if I go west to-day, I 
had a kid to leave behind me/ It 
wasn’t the father in the man speaking 
there, for the paternal instinct rarely 
makes itself felt until the child is 
already in the world. It was the 
woman speaking who lies hidden in 
the heart of every man.” 

1216. I Thought of You, Mother. 

Amid the jewels of historic heroism 
there sparkles the diamond mother- 
love of Monica that saved Augustine, 
of Susanna that saved the Wesleys, of 
Hannah that saved Samuel. William 
A. Sunday tells of his mother. “I 
stretched the elastic bonds to the 
breaking point I forgot her prayers, 
her face. Then I yielded little by 
little; and I was brought back. 
Twenty-nine years ago in Chicago I 
groped my way out of darkness to 
Jesus Christ.” One thing Bob Inger- 
soll never destroyed was our faith in 
Mother-love. A boy fell into the 
water, when his canoe upset; and he 
swam a mile to safety. What urged 
him on was, *‘I thought of you, 
Mother.”—A. 

1217. The Power of Purity. 

The story is told of two theological 
students who were walking along an 
“old clothes” street in the Whitechapel 
district of London. Suddenly one ex¬ 
claimed, “What a splendid text for a 


sermon to young men!” pointing to 
a suit of clothes that hung swaying 
in the breeze at the side of a window. 
“Slightly soiled. Greatly Reduced in 
Price.” “That’s it exactly,” he went 
on. “We young people get soiled so 
slightly, just seeing a vulgar show 
in a theater, just reading a coarse 
book, just allowing ourselves a little 
indulgence in dishonest or lustful 
thoughts, just slightly soiled, and lo! 
when the time comes for our man¬ 
hood to be appraised, we are ‘greatly 
reduced in price/ Our charm, our 
strength is gone. The consecration 
of youth is gone. We are just part 
and parcel of the general, shop-worn 
stock.” 

There is great loss in being 
“slightly soiled,” but there is power in 
purity. Sir Galahad, the old knight 
who stood as the type of chastity said: 
“My strength is as the strength of 
ten because my heart is pure.” It is 
so still. The man whose heart is 
right has the power of ten average 
men from the very fact that his heart 
is right. If Sir Galahad was cor¬ 
rect, his language might be followed 
with the statement of the man his 
exact opposite in character, “My 
weakness is as the weakness of ten 
because my heart is impure.” If a 
man’s heart is wrong, he has hidden 
away in his life as much weakness 
as belongs to ten average men from 
the very fact that his heart is im¬ 
pure. But there is power in purity. 
Shakespeare said: “A heart unspotted 
is not easily daunted.” The poet 
Thompson said: “Even from the 
body’s purity, the mind receives a 
scant sympathetic aid.” “Virtue is a 
thousand shields,” was the motto of 
the Earl of Effingham. Christ said, 
“Blessed are the pure in heart for 
they shall see God.” The apostle 
Paul, said, “Whatsoever things are 
pure, think on these things.” And he 
wrote to his young friend Timothy, 
“Keep thyself pure.” Mother’s Day 



DEBT TO GOOD MOTHERS 


295 


is a good time to refresh our minds 
and conscience on the importance of 
purity.— H. 

1218. Debt to Good Mothers. 

“Ian Maclaren,” said that it would 
bankrupt a man to try to repay the 
love of a good mother. “Success” 
calculates that the Presidents of the 
United States owe more to their 
mothers than to their fathers. Only 
eleven of the Presidents were in easy 
circumstances, and of the remainder 
who struggled with adverse circum¬ 
stances, Jackson and Lincoln had 
mothers to whom it was well worth 
the labor of this great country to 
erect monuments.— Christian En¬ 
deavor World. 

1219. A Testimony to Mother. 

“During my infancy that godly 
mother had dedicated me to the Lord 
as truly as Hannah ever dedicated 
her son Samuel. When my paternal 
grandfather, who was a lawyer, of- 
ferred to bequeath his law library 
to me, my mother declined the 
tempting offer, and said to him: “I 
fully expect that my little boy will 
be a minister.” He further said: “A 
few years ago, I gratefully placed in 
that noble Lafayette Avenue Pres¬ 
byterian Church, a beautiful memorial 
window to my beloved mother, rep¬ 
resenting Hannah and the child 
Samuel, and the fitting inscription: 
“As, long as he liveth, I have lent 
him to the Lord.”— Dr. Theodore 
Cuyler. 

1220. Manly Purity. 

“I should be a very poor counsellor 
of young men,” wrote a true friend 
of youth, “if I taught you that purity 
is possible only by isolation from the 
world. We do not want that sort 
of holiness which can only thrive in 
seclusion; we want that virile, manly 
purity which keeps itself unspotted 
from the world, even amidst its worst 


debasements, just as the lily lifts its 
slender chalice of white and gold to 
heaven untainted by the soil in which 
it grows, though that soil be the 
reservoir of death and putrefaction.” 

1221. 4 ‘I thought of You Mother.” 

A boy who afterwards became 
Governor of the State of Massa¬ 
chusetts, once came near being 
drowned. The boat in which he was 
sailing was capsized, and he had to 
swim more than a mile; but he finally 
reached the shore in safety; and when 
he reached home and told his mother 
what a long distance he had to swim, 
she asked him how he managed to 
hold out so long. “I though of you, 
mother,” replied the boy, “and kept on 
swimming.” The thought of mother 
helped him in the moment of his 
greatest need, and thus saved his life, 
not only to himself and to his mother, 
but also to the State and the Nation. 

The thought of mother has saved 
many boys and girls, men and women, 
from sinking. Indeed it has done 
more than that. The thought of 
mother has not only saved men from 
death, but it has inspired them to the 
most noble and heroic achievements. 
The thought of mother’s love, 
mother’s life, mother’s toils, mother’9 
endless sacrifice, mother’s sleepless 
nights for our comfort and safety— 
thoughts of these things have helped 
many souls over the rough and dan¬ 
gerous places in life, and finally into 
the Heavenly Father’s house. 

1222. Her Love Outlasts. 

In a beautiful poem on motherhood, 
Dr. F. Watson Hannan writes: 

“Her love outlasts all other human love, 

Her faith endures the longest, hardest 
test, 

Her grace and patience through a life¬ 
time prove 

That she’s a friend, the noblest and the 
best.” 



296 


MY MOTHER 


1223. General Pershing Mother’s 

Day Order. 

Gen. John J. Pershing, on May 8, 
1918, issued the following order to 
all units of the American Expedition¬ 
ary Forces in France: 

“To All Commanding Officers: I 
wish every officer and soldier in the 
American Expeditionary Forces 
would write a letter home on Mother’s 
Day. This is a little thing for each 
one to do, but these letters will 
qarry back our courage and* our 
affection to the patriotic women whose 
love and prayers inspire us and cheer 
us on to victory. Pershing.” 

1224. Motherhood. 

Motherhood is the crowning glory 
of womanhood. Naturally the ques¬ 
tion is asked, Why? One reason is 
because of the wonderful opportun¬ 
ities which come with motherhood. 
The time-worn expression, “The hand 
that rocks the cradle is the hand that 
rules the world,” is true. Some one 
has wisely said: “When God wanted 
a great man, he first made a great 
mother.” 

1225. A Mother’s Hand, A Mother’s 

Kiss, A Mother’s Song. 

There is a mighty power in a 
mother’s hand. There’s more power 
in a woman’s hand than there is in 
a king’s scepter. 

And there is a mighty power in a 
mother’s kiss—inspiration, courage, 
hope, ambition, in a mother’s kiss. 
One kiss made Benjamin West a 
painter, and the memory of it clung 
to Him through life. One kiss will 
drive away the fear in the dark and 
make the lktie one brave. It will 
give strength where there is weak¬ 
ness. 

I was in a town one day and saw 
a mother out with her boy, and he 
had great steel braces on both legs, 
to his hips, and when I got near 
enough to them I learned by their 


conversation that wasn’t the first time 
the mother had had him out for a 
walk. She had him out exercising 
him so he would get use of his limbs. 
He was struggling and she smiled and 
said: “You are doing fine to-day; 
better then you did yesterday,” and 
she stooped and kissed him, and the 
kiss of encouragement made him 
work all the harder, and she said: 
“You are doing great, son,” and he 
said: “Mamma, I’m going to run; 
look at me.” And he started, and 
one of his toes caught on the steel 
brace on the other leg and he 
stumbled, but she caught him and 
kissed him, and said: “That was fine, 
son; how well you did it 1 ” Now, he 
did it because his mother had en¬ 
couraged him with a kiss. He didn t 
do it to show off. There is nothing 
that will help and inspire like a 
mother’s kiss. 

There is power in a mother’s song, 
too. It’s the best music the world 
ever heard.— Rev. William A. Sunday, 
D.D. 

1226. Andrew Carnegie’s Mother. 

Andrew Carnegie acknowledges the 
influence of his mother over him in 
these words: “I owe a great deal to 
my mother. She was a seamstress, 
cook, washlady, and never until late 
in life had a servant in the house. 
And yet she was a cultivated woman. 
She kept up with the literature of 
the day. When I was a litle tot, 
she used to read good books to me.” 

Much of the work of mothers is 
done in quietness and obscurity, but 
it is done with patience and faithful¬ 
ness. Appreciation is not always 
forthcoming, but the mother finds her 
compensation in the assurance that 
duty has been well done.— Rev. W. 
J. Hart, D.D. 

1227. My Mother. 

It was one summer evening. The 
hard day’s work was done. One after 



MOTHER’S LESSON OE PURITY 


297 


another had gone to bed until mother 
and I were left alone on the porch 
in the moonlight. I had noticed that 
she did not seem as cheerful as usual, 
and as we sat there alone she seemed 
to be looking far away into the 
moonlight. I felt something was 
troubling her, but I did not feel like 
mentioning it to her. After sitting 
by her for a while I felt that I, too, 
should leave her alone with her 
thoughts unmolested. I quietly 
slipped inside the room to my bed 
but not to sleep, for I lay still, listen¬ 
ing for mother to retire. In the 
silence, I became restless and stole 
out of bed to see. And there, in a 
flood of moonlight, I saw my mother 
kneeling by her chair. I quickly 
stole back to my bed and began to 
wonder if my own stubborn, wilful 
way was what had been causing my 
mother grief; I wondered if she were 
not pouring out her soul to God in be¬ 
half of her children, and I resolved 
to try to be a better and more 
obedient child .—Russia C. Frazier. 

1228. A Beautiful Tribute. 

One Sunday afternoon a good 
many years ago a company of us 
who had gathered from the colleges 
for a ten days’ conference with Mr. 
Moody at Northfield were going up 
into the woods on the mountain for 
a prayer-meeting with him. We met 
at his house, and when we had walked 
about a block toward the hills, Mr. 
Moody stopped us in front of a 
modest dwelling and said, “Boys, my 
mother lives in this house, and I 
want you to sing for her.” And 
how the boys did sing for Mr. 
Moody’s mother! This is just one 
instance of the appreciation and 
thoughtfulness which Mr. Moody al¬ 
ways showed toward the mother who 
had so deeply influenced his life, and 
which every man ought to show to his 
own mother.— Rev. Janies E. Russell. 


1229. A Mother’s Hand. 

A mother’s hand is comforting. A 
father’s hand is strengthening. A 
mother reached a war hospital when 
her son was very sick and asleep. 
She very lightly laid her hand on 
the forehead of her sleeping son, and 
he smdled in his sleep and said, 
“Mother.” 

“My mother’s own hands, her beautiful 
hands, 

That guided me over life’s sands; 

I bless God’s name for the memory 

Of mother’s own beautiful hands.” 

1230. Mother’s Lesson of Purity. 

A lily grew in a garden fair. It 
was tall and beautiful. Its petals 
were white, its heart of gold, and in 
it glistened a dew-drop. All the 
world reverently admired its beauty, 
and enjoyed its fragrance. At length 
one bolder grown touched its white 
petals with rude, caressing fingers, 
and inhaled its odors with more 
ardent breath; and the dewdrop 
vanished, the whiteness was sullied, 
the heart of gold was tarnished, until 
few looked admiringly, and one with 
brutal grasp plucked the poor lily 
from the stem, and carelessly threw 
it in the dust where no one stopped 
to pity or to say, “Poor bruised and 
broken flower!” 

In the garden of life a maiden 
grew. Her cheek shone with the 
bloom of youth, her eyes danced with 
the light of joy, her heart was of 
virgin gold, and in it glistened the 
dewdrop of innocence. 

All who knew this fair flower of 
maidenhood reverently admired, till 
some grown bolder, with flattering 
words drew near and with a baleful 
touch soiled the white flower, until 
at last the golden heart of purity was 
tarnished and the dew of innocence 
had vanished, and in the dust of sin 
she lay outcast with no one to say, 
“Poor bruised and broken flower of 
radiant womanhood!”— Dr. Mary 
Wood Allen. 



298 


TO A SAINTED MOTHER 


1231. His First Question. 

Philip D. Armour’s first question 
about a man in whom he was inter¬ 
ested was, “What kind of a mother 
did he have?” And it is always prob¬ 
able that if a man has had the right 
sort of a mother the man is the right 
sort of a man. This is not to under¬ 
estimate the father’s influence, but 
in most homes the chief care of the 
children at the most impressionable 
age devolves upon the mother. It is 
one of the great laws of modern 
pedagogy that no impression made 
upon a child is ever obliterated, and 
especially is this true during the first 
five years of a child’s life. We do 
not remember the first five years, but 
the impression made then are a part 
of us.— J. B. R. 

1232. Before the Queen. 

When in England, many years ago, 
Philips Brooks was called to preach 
before royalty. Afterward, visiting 
with acquaintances who had been 
present on the occasion, he was com¬ 
plimented on his poise. 

“Why,” said an English clergyman, 
“If I had stood up to preach before 
the king I should have been so nerv¬ 
ous I should scarcely have been able 
to proceed. Didn’t you feel at all 
disturbed?” 

“Not at all,” responded the famous 
American. “I have preached before 
my mother.” 

1233. Mother’s Day. 

The law of God commands us, 
“Honor thy father and thy mother.” 
Long life is the reward promised for 
keeping this first commandment. Let 
us study the life of Christ. What 
understanding there appeared be¬ 
tween him and his mother. What 
tender regard he showed for her! 
Every good mother wants the child to 
grow sturdy in body, sane in intellect 
and reverent in spirit. Men and 
women the world around are con¬ 


scious of the great ideals “mother” 
has for them and are now beginning 
to realize her sacrifices, and are 
recognizing them by setting apart a 
“Mother’s Day” in which to pay hom¬ 
age to her. 

Originally an old English custom 
was to have a “Mothering Sunday” 
in Lent, and in 1906, it became popular 
in this country. The World Sunday- 
school Association promptly spon¬ 
sored it, and in 1914 Congress author¬ 
ized and requested the President to 
issue a proclamation for the observ¬ 
ance of “Mother’s Day” on the second 
Sabbath in May “as a public ex¬ 
pression of our love and reverence for 
the mothers of our country.” And 
the custom has not stopped here— 
it has spread to other lands until it 
fairly encircles the globe. 

1234. To a Sainted Mother. 

A beautiful stained-glass window 
in a Methodist Episcopal church in 
New York State bears the simple and 
only inscription, “To a sainted 
mother.” This is pure eloquence. 

1235. Teach Purity on Mother’s 

Day. 

The fur of the ermine is of perfect 
whiteness. The dainty little creature 
appears to make it the business of 
its life to keep clean. It has as utter 
a horror of filth as a sow has a love 
for it. So strong is this instinct that 
the ermine will suffer capture rather 
than defilement. Trappers know this 
fact and use it to the destruction of 
the little creature. They will smear 
filth over the paths that the ermine 
would naturally choose to escape, and 
it falls into the trap because it keeps 
itself unspotted. So should we have 
a horror of the defilement of sin; so 
should we love purity that we try to 
keep our thoughts pure and sweet 
and clean at all costs.— Rev. R. P. 
Anderson. 



GOD AND MOTHER 


299 


1236. God and Mother. 

An old minister wrote in his nine¬ 
teenth year something like this: 
“God came to me first in my mother. 
He could not have come to me in 
any other way to bless me, so He put 
Has love and tenderness and purity 
and grace and sweetness into my 
mother, and she revealed it to me. 
After a while I began to know God 
in other ways, learning to trust Him 
and to lean upon Him. Now in my 
old age my mother has gone, but God 
remains; and what my mother was to 
me in my infancy, God is to me in 
my old age.” What I want you to 
see in these words is, that the only 
way God has of getting to your 
children, or revealing His love for 
them, is through you. The Jewish 
rabbis used to say that “God could 
not be everywhere, so he made moth¬ 
ers.” 

1237. Proud of His Regiment. 

Among the many Christmas gifts 
received by a bright little boy was an 
imitation military uniform. The 
youngster put it on, and went out into 
the street, where he marched proudly 
up and down, his beaming counte¬ 
nance and happy appearance attracting 
the attention of the passers-by. 
Finally, a soldier came along, and 
turning to the boy asked, in a kindly 
tone, “To what regiment do you be¬ 
long, laddie?” The word “regiment” 
was new to the child. He hesitated 
a moment, as if trying to grasp its 
significance, and then, with an air 
of pride, replied, “To mother’s regi¬ 
ment.” “That’s right, my boy,” re¬ 
plied the soldier. “Never be ashamed 
of your regiment.” 

1238. Court of Character. 

The great court of character is the 
home. In this court the mother is 
the judge and the sheriff, too, with 
an occasional appeal to the supreme 
court in the person of the father. 


1239. Tribute to Mother. 

A great company had gathered in 
the auditorium for the evening serv¬ 
ice. There were men and women 
gray and bent, because the years had 
been long and full of care. There 
were young men and women with the 
morning glow upon their faces. Here 
and there sat a little child, and over 
all brooded the Sabbath hush. 

Then softly into the silence began 
to steal the notes of a song. Ten¬ 
derly, yearningly, almost caressingly, 
it came: 

‘‘O mother, when I think of thee, 
’Tis but a step to Calvary.” 

The silence deepened into a solemn 
stillness, as all the love and the long¬ 
ing, the joy and the sorrow, the dis¬ 
appointment and the achievement of 
the years poured themselves into the 
singer’s voice. Again it came: 

“O mother, when I think of thee, 
’Tis but a step to Calvary, 

Thy gentle hand is on my brow, 

’Tis leading me to Jesus now.” 

Then, as if the audience were but 
one great, hungry heart, hungry for 
mother, heads bowed, eyes closed and 
song and singer were forgotten. The 
sweetest face in all the world came 
back and with that face a life. The 
long years gave up their store, and 
a little child, a youth, a man was once 
again with mother. Then, the heart 
made answer, the common heart of 
the great, bowed audience made an¬ 
swer to the song: 

“ ‘Yes, mother, when I think of thee, 
‘Tis but a step to Calvary,’ ” 

and thence to Calvary’s God. And 
how easy it has been to take that 
step, for mother was so like to Him. 
Her patience with our carelessness 
and willfulness with our mistakes and 
foolish blunders helped us to trust the 
mercy that endureth forever. Her 
spirit which never thought of self, 
but always of another, which counted 
sacrifice a privilege, if it enriched 



3oo 


MOTHER MEANS MARTYR 


the child she loved, had kinship with 
that Spirit which gave an only be¬ 
gotten Son. Her confidence in what 
we should sometime be, a confidence 
that never faltered through all the 
wayward years, made us understand 
in part how the heavenly Father 
could await the perfected life of even 
His weakest child. Her prayers in¬ 
terpreted to us the passion of His 
intercession, her smile gave us a 
glimpse of the beauty of His face. 
Her readiness to hear any childish 
confidence gave us added boldness to 
come to Him, and her forgiveness, 
full, free and glad, helped us to know 
how God forgives. It was her touch 
in pain which told us of the Master's 
touch, it was her comfort in sorrow 
that gave meaning to the words, “So 
will I comfort you.” It was her love, 
ministering, suffering, abiding, that 
moved us to reach out yearning hands 
toward the everlasting love of God. 

Yes, the song is true. Sing it once 
again and memory will join, rever¬ 
ently, lovingly and gratefully: 

“ ‘O mother, when I think of thee, 
’Tis but a step to Calvary.’ ” 

—Antoinette Abernethy Lamoreaux. 

1240. Mother’s Way. 

Tender, gentle, brave and true, 

Loving us whate’er we dol 
Waiting, watching at the gate 
For the footsteps that are late, 

Sleepless through the hours of night 
Till she knows that we’re all right, 
Pleased with every word we say— 

That is ever mother’s way. 

Not enough for her are flowers, 

Her life is so blent with ours 
That in all we dare and do 
She is partner, through and through; 
Suffering when we suffer pain. 

Happy when we smile again, 

Living with us, night and day — 

That is ever mother’s way. 

—Edgar A. Guest. 

1241. The Greatest Influence. 

“If ever I make anything in this 
world or another, I shall owe it to 
the blessed influence of love,” Daniel 
Coit Gilman wrote when he was 23 
years old. Later, when he was presi¬ 


dent of Johns Hopkins University, 
he emphasized the message, as he told 
of a father whose days were marked 
by unselfish ministry and of a mother 
who always brought out the best that 
was in him. 

1242. Mother Means Martyr. 

Mother’s Day as has been pointed 
out, is the one holiday the whole 
world can observe as one nation. A 
noble mother is the one whom the 
whole world can honor in unison. 
The day naturally takes its place in 
the world’s calendar of consecrated 
dates. It claims recognition from all 
classes and conditions from every 
color, creed and race. 

The Lithuanian definition of mother 
is martyr. Various nations have en¬ 
shrined the mother in proverbs. With 
the Germans it is “A mother’s Love 
is new every day.” The Swiss say, 
“It is easier for a poor mother to 
keep seven children than for seven 
children to keep a mother.” The 
Venetian proverb reads: “Mother! 
He who has one calls her, he who 
has none misses her.” And the Hin¬ 
doos : “Mother mine, ever mine, 
whether I be rich or poor.” 

Like the thought of mother, the 
wearing of the white carnation on 
Mother’s Day sends a thrill from 
heart to heart throughout the world. 
It has been aptly said that “It lights 
the flame of brotherhood in the heart 
of stranger and of foe, for in mother 
love the hearts of the universe are 
fashioned alike.” . 

1243. Edison’s Tribute to His 

Mother. 

Thomas A. Edison, pays a splendid 
tribute to his mother when he says: 
“I did not have my mother long, but 
she cast over me an influence which 
has lasted all my life. The good 
effects of her early training I can 
never lose. If it Had not been for her 
appreciation and her faith in me at a 



MOTHERS AS EVANGELISTS 


3 01 


critical time in my experience, I 
should never likely have become an 
inventor. I was always a careless 
boy, and with a mother of different 
mental calibre I should probably have 
turned out badly. But her firmness, 
her sweetness, her goodness, were 
potent powers to keep me in the right 
path. My mother was the making of 
me. The memory of her will always 
be a blessing to me.” 

1244. The 'Heart of the Home. 

Be the home where it may, on the hill, in 
l the valley, 

Hemmed in by the walls of the populous 
town, 

Set fair where the corn lifts its plumes 
to the rally. 

Or perched on the slope where the 
torrent rolls down, 

Still ever the heart of the home is the 
same, 

Still ever the dearest of names is the name. 
And ever the purest of fames is the fame 
Of the home-queen, the mother, whose 
gentle command, 

Unchallenged, bears rule in our beautiful 
land. 

—Margaret E. Songster. 

1245. The Thought That Thrills. 

Christina Rosetti has put into words 
the thought that thrills in every heart 
as we recall the love and patience of 
the mother who reared and trained 
us: 

“And so because you love me, and because 
I love you, mother, I have woven a wreath 
Of rimes wherewith to crown your honored 
name; 

In you not fourscore years can dim the 
flame 

Of love, whose blessed glow transcends 
the laws 

Of time and change and mortal life and 
death.” 

1246. Forty Mother-power Mothers. 

The world owes a debt to its 
mothers greater than it can conceive. 
Trained and encouraged by earnest 
and sacrificing mothers, boys have 
grown up with high ideals, and the 
training and the memory of their 
mothers have been the most potent 
factors in their lives. 

Said Julia Ward Howe in an ad¬ 
dress when ninety-one years of age: 
“We talk of forty horse-power. If 


we could have a forty-mother power, 
it would be the most wonderful force 
the world ever knew.” 

Napoleon was a sage when he said, 
“Let France have good mothers, and 
she will have good sons.” 

Garfield’s first act after he was in¬ 
augurated President was to kiss his 
aged mother, who sat near him. No 
wonder that she said that was the 
proudest and happiest moment of her 
life. The solicitude of William Mc¬ 
Kinley for his mother, and her devo¬ 
tion to her son, will not quickly be 
forgotten. 

1247. All Women Sacred. 

How true the words of Jean Paul 
Richter, who said: “To a man who 
has had a mother, all women are 
sacred for her sake!” 

1248. Mothers As Evangelists. 

Christlike mothers are wonderful 
soul-winners. They are the most 
successful evangelists in the world. 
I have read of a young infidel, who 
was contemplating the character of 
his mother. “I see,” he said within 
himself, “two unquestionable facts. 
First, my mother is greatly afflicted 
in circumstances, body and mind, and 
I see that she cheerfully bears up 
under all, by the support she derives 
from constantly retiring to her 
closet and her Bible. Secondly, I 
see, that she has a secret spring of 
comfort of which I know nothing; 
while I, who give an unbounded 
loose rein to my appetites, and seek 
pleasure by every means, seldom or 
never find it. If, however, there is 
any such secret in religion, why may 
not I attain it, as well as my mother? 

I will immediately seek it of God.” 
Thus the influence of Christianity, 
exhibited in its loveliness by a living 
example before him daily in his 
mother influenced Richard Cecil to 
find Jesus Himself, and to glorify 
that Saviour by a life of remark- 



3°2 


LEGEND ABOUT MOTHER-LOVE 


able service. Every mother has 
such opportunities with her children, 
and here is her sphere.— Rev. War¬ 
ren J. Partridge. 

1249. Legend About Mother-love. 

I once read the story of an angel 
who stole out of heaven and came to 
this world one bright, sunshiny day; 
roamed through field, forest, city 
and hamlet, and as the sun went 
down plumed his wings for the re¬ 
turn flight. The angel said, “Now 
that my visit is over, before I re¬ 
turn I must gather some mementos 
of my trip." He looked at the 
beautiful flowers in the garden and 
said, “How lovely and fragrant 1 " 
and plucked the rarest roses, made 
a bouquet and said, “I see nothing 
more beautiful and fragrant than the 
flowers." The angel looked further, 
and saw a bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked 
child, and said, “That baby is pret¬ 
tier than the flowers; I will take 
that, too," and, looking behind the 
cradle, he saw a mother’s love pour¬ 
ing out over her babe like a gushing 
spring, and the angel said, “The 
mother’s love is the prettiest thing I 
have seen; I will take that too." 

And with these three treasures the 
heavenly messenger winged his flight 
to the pearly gates saying, “Before 
I go I must examine the mementos 
of my trip to the earth." He looked 
at the flowers; they had withered. 
He looked at the baby’s smile, and 
it had faded. He looked at the 
mother’s love, and it shone in all its 
pristine beauty. Then he threw away 
the withered flowers, cast aside the 
faded smile, and with the mother’s 
love pressed to his breast swept 
through the gates into the city, 
shouting that the only thing he had 
found that would retain its fragrance 
from earth to heaven is a mother’s 
love.— Rev. William A. Sunday, D.D. 


1250. That’s Mother. 

I have known many women who 
have brought the picture of the 
Christ into my thought as I noted 
their daily work. Smiling over the 
humblest service. That’s mother. 
Cheerfully doing the things of which 
the rest of us have said, “You catch 
me!” That’s mother. After the long, 
long day’s work—five or six to seven 
hours over union time—girding her¬ 
self and kneeling to wash the feet of 
guests that were unworthy to cross 
the threshold of her sweet home. 
That’s mother. Sinking into a chair, 
weary and faint, only to rise from it 
with the unfailing smile on her dear, 
tired face, to wait on some man who 
has worked eight hours that day; or 
to mend a jacket or catcher’s mitt for 
a boy who has played all day; or to 
sew on a bit of lace or adjust a 
ribbon or change something about a 
gown for a girl who has had such a 
good time all day tha: she can’t stop, 
but must go out for a better time in 
the evening. That’s mother. Staying 
at home that the others may go out 
and enjoy themselves. That’s mother. 
Sacrificing this hope, that comfort, 
and that rest, for people who forget 
to say “thank you.” That’s mother. 
Laying off her wraps and staying 
home from prayer-meeting or church 
because somebody else danced her¬ 
self or played himself into a head¬ 
ache. That’s mother. Getting ac¬ 
customed to hear the rest of the 
family say, as they get ready for the 
evening’s entertainment: “Oh, no, 
mother doesn’t care to go. Church 
and prayer-meeting are mother’s only 
dissipations." Well, those are about 
all some families allow her. They 
don’t cost anything, and the rest of 
the family don’t want to go .—Robert 
J. Burdette. 



HIS MOTHER’S VERSION 


303 


1251. Defending Mother. 

A pleasing story is told of John 
Keats and his mother. Mrs. Keats, 
it is said, inspired her children with 
an extraordinary affection. When 
John was four or five years old, Mrs. 
Keats was very seriously ill, and the 
doctor gave orders that she should 
not be disturbed for some time. John, 
learning of this, kept sentinel at her 
door for about three hours with an 
old sword he had picked up, and 
allowed no one to enter. 

1252. His Mother’s Version. 

A Bible class teacher, was telling 
of the various translations of the 
Bible and their different excellencies. 
The class was much interested, and 
one of the young men that evening 
was talking to a friend about it. 

“I think I prefer the King James 
Version for my part,” he said, 
“though, of course, the Revised is 
more scholarly.” 

His friend smiled. “I prefer my 
mother’s translation of the Bible my¬ 
self to any other version,” he said. 

“Your mother’s?” cried the first 
young man, thinking his companion 
had suddenly gone crazy. “What do 
you mean, Fred?” 

“I mean that my mother has trans¬ 
lated the Bible into the language of 
daily life for me ever since I was 
old enough to understand it. She 
translates it straight, too, and gives 
its full meaning. There has never 
been any obscurity about her version. 
Whatever printed version of the 
Bible I may study, my mother’s is 
always the one that clears up my 
difficulties.” 

1253. A Dying Soldier’s Memory 

of His Mother. 

After one of the hard-fought 
battles of the war a Conferedate 
chaplain was called hastily to see a 
dying soldier. Taking his hand, he 


said, “Well, my brother, what can I 
do for you?” 

Hie supposed, of course, that the 
young fellow would want him to cry 
to God for help in his extremity; 
it was not so. 

“Chaplain,” he said, “I want you to 
cut a lock of hair for my mother; 
and then, chaplain, I want you to 
kneel down and return thanks to God 
for me.” 

“For what?” asked the chaplain. 

“For giving me such a mother. Oh! 
she is a good mother. Her teachings 
are my comfort now. And then, 
chaplain, thank God that by his grace 
I am a Christian. What would I do 
now if I were not a Christian? And 
thank Him for giving me dying 
grace. He has made this hard bed 
feel ‘soft as downy pillows are.’ And, 
oh, chaplain, thank Him for the 
promised home in glory—I’ll soon be 
there.” 

“And so,” said the chaplain, “I 
kneeled by his bed with not a petition 
to utter; only praises and thanks¬ 
giving for a good mother, a Chris¬ 
tian hope, dying grace, and an eternal 
home in glory.” 

1254. Three Great Singers. 

The brilliant audience gave an 
ovation to the great singer. She was 
unquestionably the best soprano in the 
world. The critic turned to his friend, 
the self-made millionaire, and said: 
“Did you ever hear any song more 
exquisitely rendered ?” 

“Yes,” said the rich man musingly, 
for he was touched by the magic of 
what he had heard. “Yes, I have 
heard three greater singers.” 

“I want to know,” exclaimed the 
critic. 

“The first was years ago. The 
singer was plain of face and gray of 
hair and tired of body. There was 
much work to do and many mouths 
to feed. I was the youngest child, 
sick and cross. And the dear singer 



304 


A COMELY CUSTOM 


crooned to me a lullaby, and I slept. 
It was a wonderful song. The next 
was years afterwards. We had a 
little cottage. It was summer, and 
the windows and doors were open. 
My wife was in the kitchen preparing 
supper. She was singing something 
about the true love coming home to 
her. It was for me. And that too 
was a wonderful song. Some more 
years elapse. There is a little toddler 
in the garden, and she sings hesi¬ 
tatingly something about daddy and 
his baby. These are three singers, my 
friend, that beat all of your so¬ 
pranos.” 

And the critic—well, perhaps the 
critic agreed with him. 

1255. Garfield’s Mother. 

The mother of President Garfield 
was a woman of large gifts and deep 


piety. She taught her children the 
Bible, temperance, the love of liberty 
and loyalty to the country. 

Just after President Garfield de¬ 
livered his inaugural address, while 
tens of thousands of his countrymen 
were cheering him, he turned and 
kissed his aged mother—then he 
kissed his wife. Again the vast multi¬ 
tude applauded his action, honoring 
the tribute to his mother and wife 
in the one supreme moment of his 
life. When the news came to the 
mother that her son was shot, she 
cried out in her agony: “The L,ord 
help me! How could any one be so 
cold-hearted as to want to kill my 
baby?” The last kiss of the mother 
was when her loving boy was in his 
casket, while multitudes were follow¬ 
ing the lamented Garfield to his tomb. 


XIX. MEMORIAL DAY 

(The Thirtieth of May.) 


1256. A Comely Custom. 

Tradition has it that after the last 
battle fought in behalf of the Stuarts 
there sprang up to mark the spot on 
Colloden Moor a singular little blue 
flower, unknown in that region be¬ 
fore. The natives called it the 
“Flower of Colloden,” because it 
sprang from the soil made sacred and 
rich with the blood of their kin. Seeds 
sleeping for ages, it was said, sprung 
into life and beauty when they re¬ 
ceived their baptism of blood. Col¬ 
loden flowers are always considered 
the choicest because of the cost of 
their production, for they of all 
others grow from soil fertilized with 
sacrifices and dyed with blood. 

One might ask, What are these 
Colloden flowers of our American 
soil? One is national freedom. An¬ 
other is the Mayflower of religious 
liberty. Others there are that form a 


whole boquet of patriotic graces that 
spring from the soil where our sol¬ 
diers died in the Civil War, and 
other wars of self-sacrificing love 
and devotion to country and kin. 

By a change of thought and figure 
of speech we can think of the flowers 
our nation uses on Memorial Day as 
American Colloden flowers of grati¬ 
tude. The Psalmist said, “Praise is 
comely.” The expression of gratitude 
is comely; so we are sure that our 
nation’s practice of each Memorial 
Day scattering on the graves of its 
heroic dead the flowers of gratitude 
as a sweet-smelling savor is a comely 
custom. This annual tribute of 
flowers is certainly a very beautiful 
custom and one we hope will never 
cease to be observed. It will not 
affect the dead, but it will greatly 
affect and bless the, Hying.—H. 



NEW SENSE OF PATRIOTISM 


305 


1257. Flowers on the Waters. 

The placing of a flag and of flowers 
on the graves of soldiers in cemeteries 
will probably always be the practice 
of Memorial Day as instituted by the 
G. A. R. Recently a unique and 
beautiful form of Memorial service 
has come into vogue. The observance 
consists of strewing the waves with 
flowers of the colors of the national 
banner. Many cities on the seaboard, 
lakes and rivers, have adopted this 
novel and picturesque ceremony 
Barges are laden with blossoms, 
which are flung upon the waters by 
young girls as the government ships 
sound a salute as a requiem for the 
naval heroes asleep in the gardens 
of the sea. 

1258. New Sense of Patriotism. 

With all of these scars, and wounds, 
and pains of separation, we come to 
Memorial Day with a new sense of 
patriotism, a new conception of sacri¬ 
fice, a new horror for war, a new 
viewpoint of freedom, and an in¬ 
creased appreciation of the “land of 
the free and the home of the brave.” 
We come with a hope for the future 
and a longing for our posterity, pray¬ 
ing God to forbid that war again shall 
molest our homes and disorganize the 
world. 

The day means that, while they 
sleep, with their ears deaf to the 
sound of cannon, and eyes closed to 
the flash of the sword, we will deco¬ 
rate with our flowers, weep with our 
tears, remember with our minds, and 
cherish with our hearts, thinking first, 
last, and always of our country’s 
fairest manhood who fell for homes, 
friends, and freedom. Whether in 
blue, in gray or in khaki, they are 
“Our dead—our loved ones tried and 
true .”—Religious Telescope. 

1259. Honor and Emulate. 

The ancient Romans used to place 
the statues and busts of their distin- 
20 


guished ancestors in the vestibules of 
their houses that they and their chil¬ 
dren might be reminded of and led 
to imitate their noble deeds. There 
is no doubt that the influence of this 
practice was most happy upon the 
living, awakening in many breasts 
high and noble aspirations. The 
young grew up Ij reverence the wor¬ 
thies whose statues they daily saw, 
and to emulate the qualities which 
gave to their ancestors such lasting 
fame. In these days we have no 
busts of honored ancestors in the 
porches of our dwellings; but we 
have something more impressive in 
such days as this we celebrate, when 
their noble characters are extolled and 
their heroic deeds are recounted in 
every hamlet and village and city 
throughout the length and breadth of 
the land; and the results will be just 
as happy, and more so, than were 
those flowing from that honored 
Roman custom. I am sure that we all 
do greatly appreciate the honor our 
nation delights to shower upon the 
gallant men who laid down their 
lives for the State.— H . 

1260. Flowers on Graves Ancient 
Custom. 

The custom of decorating graves 
with flowers prevailed among the 
Greeks and Romans. Simondies wrote 
(500 B. C.) for Sophocles’ epitaph: 

Wind, gentle evergreen, to form a shade 
Around the tomb where Sophocles is laid, 
Sweet ivy, wind thy boughs and intertwine 
With blushing roses and the clustering 
vine; 

So shall thy lasting leaves with beauty 
hung 

Prove a fit emblem for the lays he sung. 

It is a custom full of eloquent ap¬ 
peals to the heart of sorrowing sur¬ 
vivors, and is fraught with such as¬ 
sociations as induce an elevation of 
sentiment, and a poetry of feeling 
adapted to modify our grief and in¬ 
vest the sepulcher with the kindly 
emotions of hope and immortality. 



3°6 


HARRY LAUDER AT SON’S GRAVE 


“On earth, the thorns and roses are blend¬ 
ing 

And beauty immortal awakes from the 
tomb.” 

The bridal and the burial have alike 
sought their richest emblems among 
these fairest symbols of beauty and 
decay. 

The old Romans not only used 
flowers for personal decoration, but 
made them the accessories of religion. 
These delicate emblems adorned their 
priests, altars, and sacrifices. Their 
statues were crowned with them. 

1261. Perpetual Gratitude Due. 

“These flowers are the alphabet of 
our hearts; with them we spell out 
Faith, Hope, Heaven.” Flowers ex¬ 
press in their structure and colors 
the most delicate affections and ap¬ 
preciations of the soul, for “the flower 
seems to be the portion of vegetable 
on which nature has bestowed the 
most pains. The least conspicuous 
flowers reveal under the microscope 
an exquisite beauty.” 

The heroic daring of the Federal 
soldiers, their sublime courage, en¬ 
titles them to the perpetual gratitude 
of their countrymen and to the admir¬ 
ation of the world.— Rev. Franklin 
Moore. 

1262. Better. 

“A wooden cross over there is 
better than an armchair over here.” 

That’s the spirit that was found in 
all the boys who saw with their 
own eyes the hell of German warfare. 
We can safely take their word for 
it, and try to develop in our own 
tasks here at home a little of their 
fine spirit of sacrifice. 

1263. Harry Lauder at Son’s Grave. 

Laughing Harry Lauder stood by 
the grave of his boy and said, “Oh, 
God, that I could have one request, 
it would be that I might embrace my 
laddie again and thank him for what 


he did for his country and humanity.” 
The best way to thank the dead is to 
complete the task that they began. 
To be baptized for them. 

1264. No Wars of Conquest. 

Alexander, the Macedonian, said 
he fought to spread Greek civiliza¬ 
tion, but all the world knows it was 
Persian gold and Egyptian wealth 
and universal conquest that led him 
and his soldiers over land and sea. 
American soldiers have yet to make 
their first raid on any nation for 
wealth or territorial possession. And 
God grant that this may always be 
true of them! America has sent her 
thousands to enlighten and civilize 
people in every clime between the two 
poles, but never armed with musket 
or sword. She sends her missionaries 
and Christian teachers for that pur¬ 
pose. Among the greatest, the brav¬ 
est and noblest soldiers that ever 
followed any standard are those who 
have followed and defended the Stars 
and Stripes. 

1265. Honor the Brave. 

At the close of the Civil War, 
when a portion of the army was be¬ 
ing disbanded in New York, it is said 
that hundreds of thousands of people 
gathered along the line of march to 
witness the scene. 

First came soldiers in bright uni¬ 
forms and with stainless flags. As 
they marched along the multitude 
cheered them with a hearty good will. 

But by and by there came along 
companies whose ranks were very 
thin, little bands, with torn garments, 
battered armament and tattered flags. 
As they passed by there went up one 
grand, unanimous, re-echoing shout, 
which seemed to cause the whole 
island of Manhattan to tremble. 
These were the real veterans; these 
had seen real service, and were ac¬ 
counted worthv of double honor. 
And we know the people were right. 



GRATITUDE AND HOPE 


307 


But if this be true, think, then, 
what honor can be too great for the 
memory of those who, not simply 
saw service and came back, but who 
saw service and never came back! 

Never came back! but sealed their 
devotion with their blood, giving their 
lives that we might be free! Let us 
never forget to honor them, for surely 
this freedom of ours was purchased 
at a great price.— H. 

1266. Gratitude and Hope. 

Memorial Day brings lessons of 
gratitude and hope. Memory is the 
mother of gratitude. When we re¬ 
call our national blessings, how much 
cause we have for gratitude to God I 
We can truly say “He hath not 
dealt so with any nation.” “The Lord 
of hosts is with us, the God of 
Jacob is our refuge.” Our dear old 
flag, “with not a strip erased and 
not a star obscured,” waves over a 
broad undivided nation of free people 
—the happiest people in the world, 
if we had the good sense to appreci¬ 
ate it. It is no fiction when ours is 
spoken of as “the land of the free 
and the home of the brave.”— H. 

1267. There Bloosoms Red Life 

that Shall Endless Be. 

“Upon the ground where the 
battle of Bull Run was fought,” said 
a tourist, “I saw pretty, pure, delicate 
flowers growing out of the empty 
ammunition boxes, a wild rose thrust¬ 
ing up its graceful head through the 
top of a broken Union drum, and a 
sweet scented scarlet verbena peeping 
out of a fragment of an exploded 
shell.” Even so shall the blessings 
of peace spring up in the track of 
“devouring campaigns” that carry all 
before them. Ah, yes, the blessings 
of peace are surely coming, because 
the world is becoming civilized and 
war is not^ a civilized method of 
settling disputes! 


1268. The Hand of God in our 

History. 

And it is well to emphasize on 
this Memorial Day the great truth 
that our preservation has been of God. 
When through the gloom and stress 
and storm the ark of liberty was 
carried, if with shattered timbers, yet 
undestroyed, to where the haven lay 
in peaceful calm, how acute our feel¬ 
ing was that on the helm had been 
the hand of Him that holdeth the 
winds in His fists and bids the seas 
be calm. May God, in the midst of 
abounding perils—the God of our 
fathers—who has made us what we 
are, still preserve us a nation! 

1269. Value of Peace. 

Memorial Day teaches the value 
of peace. It shows war at best a 
necessary evil, to be justified only 
by a righteous cause. It shows the 
cost of war. What the Civil War 
costs us in dollars and cents some 
day may be wiped out and forgotten, 
but that it costs us hundreds of thou¬ 
sands of precious lives will never be 
forgotten while Memorial Day con¬ 
tinues to be observed. At a great 
price obtained we this freedom. It 
was the price of blood—the blood of 
a nation’s heroes, whose memories 
we honor. Nor will they soon be 
forgotten, for 

"On Fame’s eternal camping ground 

Their silent tents are spread; 

And Memory guards with solemn round 

The bivouac of the dead.” 

Our nation will not soon forget the 
value of peace purchased at such a 
cost. Memorial Day is a definite re¬ 
minder of the price paid.— H. 

1270. Cover Them Over. 

Cover them over with beautiful flowers; 
Deck them with garlands, those brothers 
of ours; 

Tying so silent, by night and by day, 
Sleeping the years of their manhood away; 
Years they had marked for the joys of the 
brave; 



308 


FIVE HUNDRED MILES OF TEARS 


Years they must waste in the sloth of the 
grave. 

All the bright laurels they fought to make 
bloom, 

Fell to the earth when they went to the 
tomb. 

Give them the meed they have won in the 
past; 

Give them the honors their merits forecast; 
Give them the chaplets they won in the 
strife; 

Give them the laurels they lost with their 
life. 

Cover them over,—yes, cover them over,— 
Parent, and husband, and brother, and 
lover; 

Crown in your heart those dead heroes of 
ours, 

And cover them over with beautiful flowers. 

—Will Carlton. 

1271. “Five Hundred Miles of 

Tears.” 

A Chicago woman who crossed 
France soon after the outbreak of this 
terrible war said that she had trav¬ 
elled through “five hundred miles of 
tears.” 

She had seen mothers bidding good- 
by to their sons, probably the last 
goodby. Brokenhearted wives were 
saying a last farewell to their hus¬ 
bands. Sisters were parting from 
brothers whom they would not see 
again on earth. Sweethearts were 
embracing their lovers as if they could 
not let them go. With stony eyes the 
poor souls left behind were facing a 
future of sorrow, poverty, and lonely 
desolation. 

1272. The Peace of God. 

A ship’s compass is so adjusted as 
to keep its level amidst all the heav- 
ings of the sea. Though forming part 
of a structure that feels every motion 
of the restless waves, it has an ar¬ 
rangement of its own that keeps it 
always in place and in working order. 
Look at it when you will, it is point¬ 
ing—trembling, perhaps, but truly—to 
the pole. So each soul in this life 
needs an adjustment of its own, that 
amid the fluctuations of the “earthen 
vessel” it may be kept ever in a posi¬ 
tion to feel the power of its great 
attraction in the skies. 

A nation adjusted right toward 


God will have peace. A world so ad¬ 
justed will have peace.— H. 

1273. “Dead on the Field of 

Honor.” 

A boy of only twenty years was 
killed in France. Found on his body 
was a letter of comfort to his par¬ 
ents : 

“We shall live forever in the re¬ 
sults of our efforts. We shall live as 
those who, by their sacrifice, won the 
great war. 

“You must console yourself with 
the thought that I am happy. The 
measure of life is not its span, but 
the use made of it.” 

This is the fine spirit of the true 
soldier. We can never close our ac¬ 
count with those who died on the 
field of honor. Perhaps the humblest 
tribute we can pay to their memory is 
to follow the wisdom of the young 
hero: 

“The measure of life is not its 
span, but the use made of it.” 

1274. Fresh Graves. 

Memorial Day is not limited to 
services for the heroes of our Civil 
War alone. Since the time it was 
legally established, other crimson 
pages and rolls of honor have been 
added to our history. Other events 
and records of sacrifice have been 
registered in the annals of our past 
since the brave men, under Lincoln’s 
instruction, went down in death for 
the freedom of man. The names of 
heroes who fell in our war with Spain 
have been written in the scroll which 
never can be changed. More recent 
still are the chivalrous actions and 
gallant deeds of those whose lives and 
sufferings meant defeat to Prussian- 
ism, and victory to the nations of 
earth who longed for deliverance. 
Wounds in our hearts still are open 
and bleeding because a voice is missed 
never to be heard again, and a place 
is vacant never more to be filled. 



THE UNFORGOTTEN DEAD 


309 


1275. Love of Country. 

Love of country is not only a 
natural sentiment in every true heart, 
but it is right in the sight of God. 
No one can ignore his relation to his 
country and not sin against God. “If 
I forget Thee, O Jerusalem, let my 
right hand forget her cunning. If 
I do not remember thee, let my 
tongue cleave to the roof of my 
mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem 
above my chief joy.” These were the 
words of one loyal both to God and 
to native land. Christ, too, was a 
patriot; and a religion without pat¬ 
riotism is not inspired by Christ. 
Christ loved his nation. He came 
first for His own people, preached 
first to them, and wept when they 
would not attend to the things that 
would make for their peace. The 
Gospel exalts patriotism to a Chris¬ 
tian virtue whenever it is held in a 
Christian spirit.— H. 

1276. The Unforgotten Dead. 

One of the most solemn and im¬ 
pressive moments of the Student 
Volunteer Convention, which met at 
Des Moines during the holidays of 
1919-1920, came when the vast audi¬ 
ence rose to its feet while the roll call 
was read of those student volunteers 
who had died since the last conven¬ 
tion. As name after name came with 
the terrible words, “Killed in action,” 
or “Killed in Europe,” or “Died of 
wounds in France,” the hearts of all 
were moved at a new vision of the 
costly price paid for the freedom 
of the world. 

1277. The Iron Cross. 

A striking instance is narrated by 
Lieutenant Conigsby Dawson. During 
one fierce engagement, a British of¬ 
ficer saw a German officer impaled on 
the barbed wire, writhing in anguish. 
The fire was dreadful, yet he still 
hung there unscathed. At length 
the British officer could stand it no 


longer. He said quietly, “I can’t bear 
to look at that poor chap any longer.” 
So he went out under the hail of shell, 
released him, took him on his shoul¬ 
ders and carried him to the German 
trench. The firing ceased. Both 
sides watched the act with wonder. 
Then the commander of the German 
trench came forward, took from his 
own bosom the Iron Cross, and 
pinned it on the breast of the British 
officer. For the moment they were 
one. 

1278. Blue Ribbons. 

Among many wonderful stories of 
heroism I heard in France one of 
the most beautiful was of a young 
wife, who came out to see her hus¬ 
band lying dangerously wounded at 
a base hospital. She was “a tall, 
bright-looking girl in short dress 
that with its long blue streamers sug¬ 
gested a river picnic.” The people 
were rather perplexed at the girl’s 
appearance. The garb seemed too 
gay for the purpose. Yet they found 
in her a certain grit and determined 
strength. She would not visit her 
husband in the guise of a woman al¬ 
ready widowed; he should be proud 
of her when he saw her as she al¬ 
ways was on Sundays when they 
walked in the park, and she as smart 
as any. She had always stood by him 
in making up his mind. He must make 
it up now. So the ribbons fluttered 
through the ward, and the sick men 
turned to watch them.” 

She was a better tonic to him than 
all the doctors. “From the first day 
improvement began, and soon his 
name was off the dreaded danger 
list.”— F. C. Hogarth. 

1279. Memorial Day and Patriot¬ 

ism. 

The Gospel exalts patriotism to 
a Christian virtue whenever it is held 
in a Christian spirit. It is one of the 
happy facts that our Memorial Day 



3io 


THE DAY OF MEMORY 


acts so strongly in the direction of 
keeping this higher form of patriot¬ 
ism alive. Is there no lesson of 
loyalty to God and native land when 
our rising generations are told of 
men like Commodore Perry, before 
his battles placing the American flag 
on the capstan of his ship, and the 
Bible on the flag, and then with his 
men gathered around him, singing to¬ 
gether the old hundreth Psalm? Or 
of Nathan Coffin, urged and threat¬ 
ened to induce him to enlist with his 
nation’s enemy, replying: “Hang me 
if you will to the yardarm of your 
ship, but do not ask me to become a 
traitor to my country!” Or of Gen¬ 
eral Reed, of the Revolution, offered 
fifty thousand dollars as a bribe, re¬ 
plying: “Gentlemen, I am poor, very 
poor, but your king is not rich enough 
to buy me!” I tell you it means some¬ 
thing for God, as well as for home 
and native land when we see such 
unselfish devotion as was displayed 
by our men of the Revolution, and 
of the Civil war, and in later days, 
by young Ensign Bagley, the men of 
Santiago, or the hero of Manilla Bay. 

Christian patriotism—this is what 
our people learn and find strength¬ 
ened by the observance of each re¬ 
curring Memorial Day, a patriotism 
which is opposed to selfishness, and 
all self-seeking, which reproves all 
anarchy and disorder, which de¬ 
nounces every attempt to plunder 
the treasury by turning public office 
into a way of serving only private 
ends. These things, and others like 
them, do not grow in the same soil, 
they do not live in the same heart 
with Christianity and patriotism.— H. 

1280. Lessons of Memorial Day. 

Wisely has it been said by Schuyler 
Colfax: “We may adorn with lov¬ 
ing tributes the resting place of our 
beloved dead; the flowers which are 
strewn may symbolize the living frag¬ 
rance of their memory; but we shall 


honor them the most by having their 
example teach us to love our country 
more, to value its dearly purchased 
institutions more, to prize its mani¬ 
fold blessings more, and to advance 
its greatness and true glory more.” 

1281. The Day of Memory. 

“Down the long level of the street 
The solemn drums a measure beat, 

To time the tread of marching feet— 

It was the day of memory. 

“Out to the city of the dead 
The waving flag its lovers led. 

“Where soldiers lie ’tis sacred ground 
Bach shrine their loyal comrades found. 

“And so, each year at call of drum, 

The veterans and their proud sons come, 
With flowers and words of praise well won 
To keep the day of memory.” 

1282. God Bless Our Land. 

O God of nations, bless our land 
From ocean unto ocean! 

For equal rights, O help us stand 
With high and pure devotion! 

Our peerless flag, long may it wavel 
Our States, may nothing sever! 

But still do Thou our Union save, 
Forever and Forever! 

—Rev. B. A. Collier. 

1283. Up! Up! 

"Up! Up! with the old Flag— 
Up! Up! to the sky. 

O God! bless the old Flag! 

Thy truth must not die!” 

1284. Let the Flag Wave. 

“Bet the flag wave! Aye, let its glory 
shine! 

Let the flag wave! A symbol and a sign! 
To guard our honor and to shield and 
save, 

Let the flag wave!” 

1285. Speed Our Republic! 

“Speed our republic, O Father on high! 
Lead us in pathways of justice and 
right; 

Rulers as well as the ruled, ‘One and 

..an/ 

Girdle with virtue the armor of might! 
Hail! three times hail to our country and 
flag!” 

1286. Hail! And—Farewell. 

They died that we might live— 

Hail! And Farewell! 

—All honor give 

To those who, nobly striving, nobly fell. 
That we might live! 

That we might live they died— 

Hail! And Farewell! 



CUSTOM OF THE AGES 


3ii 


—Their courage tried, 

By every mean device of treacherous hate, 
Bike Kings they died. 

Eternal honor give— 

Hail! And Farewelll 
To those who died, 

In that full splendour of heroic pride. 

That we might live! 

—John Oxenham. 

1287. Take Care of the Boy. 

Our new veterans, as the old, died 
for the children. They died for our 
children. We must live for theirs. No 
child must suffer because its father 
was a hero and patriot. It is the 
nation’s privilege to be a father to 
the fatherless; to be baptized for the 
dead. When Scott lay dying in the 
Antarctic he said, “Take care of 
the boy.” The voice of millions of 
the dead says, “Take care of the 
boys.” 

1288. The Day of Memory. 

Memorial Day can never cease to 
be a tender memory. There can be 
no greater day to be remembered in 
the annals of American liberty that 
that 30th of May, when the flower of 
southern chivalry gave up its battle 
sword to the silent soldier of Appo¬ 
mattox. But the day has far more in 
it than the celebration of any single 
event. It is a day sacred to the mem¬ 
ory of the unnumbered hosts of he¬ 
roic men who, through toil and suf¬ 
fering and defeat and victory and 
death in victory, have made our nation 
great and free. And let us not forget 
that many precious lessons of the day 
will be well-nigh lost if we fail to 
keep in thoughtful recollection our 
brave defenders themselves who now 
lie resting from their arms in their 
silent tents of green. Let us remem¬ 
ber them. Let us, as far as possible, 
recall their names and repeat them 
over with reverence and respect. Let 
us recount their deeds, describe their 
battles tell of their valor and crown 
their graves with their country’s flag 
and with sweetest flowers, symbolic 


of our love and of the moral beauty 
of their acts.— H. 

1289. Live For Them. 

The old veterans are not all gone, 
but we have new veterans, and a new 
reason for the observance of Memo¬ 
rial Day. Imagine every young man 
wiped out of a city like San Fran¬ 
cisco. Our loss in Flanders totals 
that. Out of every 100 American 
soldiers, two died of disease and 
wounds. They died for the greatest 
thing in the world—A Cause. They 
earned the supreme decoration—The 
Wooden Cross. The sword of mili¬ 
tarism is broken. Our task is begun 
not ended. The dead don’t want to 
be mourned. Neither do they want 
to be forgotten. They kept their pact 
with us; we must keep our pact 
with them. Was it an accident that 
their favorite slogan was, “Carry 
On”? Their task is unfinished. The 
voice of the millions of the dead 
says, “Live for the things for which 
we died.” We must display in life 
the spirit they displayed in death. 
We must be baptized for the dead, 

1290. Custom of the Ages. 

To commemorate those great events 
which have elevated national charac¬ 
ter has been the custom in all ages. 
History, poetry, and eloquence have 
each vied in celebrating those exhibi¬ 
tions of courage which reflected so 
much honor upon the republics of 
antiquity. Rome, a nation which sur¬ 
passed her contemporaries in love of 
arts and arms, erected statues, and 
garlanded triumphal arches in honor 
of her victorious brave. It is then 
in conformity to an ancient custom— 
the most natural and the deepest grat¬ 
itude—that we decorate the graves 
of the heroic dead, who fought and 
fell that their country might survive. 
It is but natural that flowers should 
give expression to our love for the 
departed; theirs is an oratory that 



312 


ROADS OF REMEMBRANCE 


speaks in perfumed silence. Joy and 
sorrow have their appropriate ex¬ 
pression in these mute yet eloquent 
letters of “the blooming alphabet of 
creation.”— A. T. Slade, Esq. 

1291. A Patriotic Duty. 

One of Sir Walter Scott’s most 
graphic sketches is of the pious en¬ 
thusiast, commonly known as “Old 
Mortality,” who was wont annually 
to visit the graves of the heroic Cov¬ 
enanters, cleaning the moss from 
the gray stones, and renewing with 
his chisel the half-defaced inscrip¬ 
tions. Scott says of him: Motives 
of the most sincere, though fanciful 
devotion, induced the old man to 
dedicate so many years of existence 
to perform this tribute to the memory 
of the deceased warriors of the 
Church. He considered himself as 
fulfilling a sacred duty, while renew¬ 
ing to the eyes of posterity the 
decaying emblems of the zeal and suf¬ 
ferings of their forefathers, and 
thereby trimming, as it were, the bea¬ 
con light which was to warn future 
generations to defend their religion 
even unto blood.” Mutatis Mutan¬ 
dis, this is our office, and that of 
those who year by year shall succeed 
us in this pious and patriotic duty, 
to “Let no neglect, nor ravages of 
time, testify to the present or to the 
coming generation that we have for¬ 
gotten, as a people, the cost of a 
free and undivided Republic.”— Rev. 
William Harris. 

1292. Roads of Remembrance. 

The American Forestry Associa¬ 
tion had a happy idea when it sug¬ 
gested that trees should be planted 
along the city streets and country 
highways in memory of the soldiers 
who died in France, and as a tribute 
to the victors who had come home. 
It suggested that the roads thus 
shaded should be called “roads of re¬ 
membrance,” and it is hoped that 


more than one highway from coast 
to coast may be shaded, twenty years 
from now, by great trees which this 
generation has planted in memory of 
its heroic sons. The young trees will 
be eloquent witnesses of the new life 
of the world which has sprung out 
of the peace settlement, and we may 
perhaps be permitted to hope that the 
world will grow toward real peace as 
rapidly as these trees grow toward 
maturity. A tree on the roadside is 
a friend of man or beast a shelter 
from the rain and sun, and a protec¬ 
tion both for the road and the trav¬ 
eler. Shaded roads are not only more 
comfortable to travelers, but last 
longer than those exposed to the sun. 
Trees planted along the roads this 
year will soon have multiplied them¬ 
selves, and there will be many little 
pieces of woodland twenty years from 
now in places which are to-day waste 
corners of stones and weeds. And 
every traveler who gains comfort 
or protection under the spreading 
branches along the “road or remem¬ 
brance” will recall the sacrifice, the 
victory, the triumph of liberty, and 
pledge himself anew to the cause of 
human justice and of right between 
man and man. 

1293. Passed Us the Torch. 

Our new veterans as well as the 
old died for liberty. They suffered 
that the world might be free. As for 
them, give them liberty or give them 
death. Liberty gained must be main¬ 
tained. We must be baptized for the 
dead and give liberty to all mankind. 
There is a picture of a runner bear¬ 
ing a torch. His energy is exhausted; 
he falls; another fresh and hope¬ 
ful is at his side, and snatches the 
torch and bears it forward through 
the darkness. The dead have passed 
us the torch of liberty. It is a sacred 
thing, and the lives of this generation 
will be judged by the way in which 
we pass on that torch to posterity. 



OUR NEW VETERANS 


3i3 


Unless we pass on that torch, the 
dead have died in vain.— T. L . 

1294. New Veterans. 

We used to wonder what we’d do 
When hoary veterans were so few 
We could no longer hear the beat 
Of faltering step through village street 
On Decoration Day, nor view 
Torn flags of faded hue 
Borne by weak hands and tottering feet, 
Though hearts were staunch and proud 
and true 

As e’er they were in sixty-two. 

To those who sleep beneath the sod 
Now all the world memorial keeps 
And all the world now proudly weeps— 

Not one land only, as of yore— 

For your strong sons who bravely bore 
Their banner over ocean’s deeps. 

— A. B. Tyack. 

1295. Across Concord Bridge. 

A pleasant incident of Memorial 
Day, 1915, was recorded by the Con¬ 
cord papers. For the first time since 
its somewhat precipitate movement 
across the bridge on April 19, 1775, 
the British flag was born across Con¬ 
cord Bridge. The bones of two un¬ 
known British soldiers killed in the 
Concord fight, repose beneath the 
sward near the famous bridge, where 
the embattled farmers stood. A party 
of Britishers from Boston went out 
to Concord to decorate these two 
soldiers’ graves. 

Once more the Britishers were met 
near the bridge by the Concord 
Minute Men, in battle array; but this 
time no shot was fired. On the con¬ 
trary, the Minute Men met the 
British, who bore their flag aloft, and 
acted as their escort. Preceded by 
the Stars and Stripes, the British 
colors peaceably crossed the bridge; 
and with bared heads both Britishers 
and Concord men, no longer embat¬ 
tled, cast flowers above the spot 
where the red coats of 1775 were 
buried. It was a striking testimony 
of the fact that at least one war in 
the world’s history is over. 

1296. Proud She Married a Soldier. 

“I could not have married anyone 
but a soldier. Girls in Australia all 


feel like that, and they do not worry 
selfishly about the possibility of death 
or disfigurement for the men they 
love. I believe in war weddings and 
in accepting bravely what comes after. 
I wish my husband might get well. I 
cannot bear to think of anything more 
happening to him. But, whatever 
comes, I am proud to have been a 
soldier’s wife.” 

These were the words with which 
the three-months’ bride of Captain R. 
Hugh Knyvett courageously met the 
sympathy of American friends, when 
her husband was obliged to go to a 
New York hospital. He died there. 

1297. Our New Veterans. 

They died to make a world of greed 
impossible. They died to self that 
they might live to honor and to God. 
We can’t do less than the dead. We 
can’t be less selfish than they. They 
discredited German covetousness, and 
we must stop the world from playing 
the game of grab. The best protest 
against covetousness is an uncovetous 
life. We must forget the gospel of 
getting and learn the creed of giving. 
We have the advantage of the dead, 
—they struck one blow for a better 
world and then could strike no more. 
We can strike to-day and to-morrow 
and the day after, until the city of 
greed is in ruins, and then upon its 
ashes build the city of God.— T. L,. 

1298. Calls for Heroism. 

Chaplain Jones, was talking to the 
men of the Second Regiment of New 
Jersey at the time of the Spanish 
War. “ T am ready to preach,’ said 
Paul; how many of you are ready 
to serve?” There was a volley of en¬ 
thusiastic responses. “ ‘I am ready 
to suffer,’ said the apostle. Are you 
ready to suffer?” The men grew 
thoughtful as their possible sufferings 
were painted, but when the question 
came the regiment replied. “We are.” 
“ ‘I am ready to die,’ said Paul, Can 
you also say that?” Many eyes grew 



314 


DIED TO END WAR 


dim as the preacher pictured plainly 
this possibility. There were dear ones 
at home, there were bright careers 
just begun. But when the testing 
question came, “Are you willing to 
die for your country?” the hall was 
shaken with the confident cries. “We 
are.” Then Chaplain Jones said: 
“Boys, I have tried to tell you of the 
readiness of Paul—one of God’s 
minute men—of his readiness to serve, 
to suffer, and to die, for his Lord; 
and I would like, before we leave 
here this morning, to ask you just one 
more question. How many of you 
will promise me that, by the grace of 
God, you will ever strive so to live 
that when He calls you to give your 
final account, whether it be upon the 
camp-ground, the battle-field or else¬ 
where in the world, you will be ready 
to meet Him?” In an instant five 
hundred hands went up, and it is 
said that the entire camp was trans¬ 
formed by this thrilling appeal. 

1299. Making a New World. 

Our new veterans, as the old, died 
for a new world. They believed the 
prayer of Jesus—“Thy Kingdom 
Come.” They struck a blow for that 
kingdom. Let us highly resolve that 
the dead shall not have died in vain! 
Ring out the strife, the care, the want, 
the sin. Bring in redress to all man¬ 
kind. The dead have a right to stir 
beneath the poppies of Flanders if we 
do not hear! Another and a greater 
has the right, who taught us to pray: 
“Thy Kingdom Come, and Thy will 
be done in America, as it is in 
Heaven.” 

The power to be baptized for the 
dead can’t come from any pretentious 
philosophies. It can only come from 
a life that has given itself into the 
keeping of the Great Captain of us 
all. 

1300. But a Remnant. 

But a remnant now remains of the 
once Grand Army of the Republic 


that marched, with firm step, and 
bounding pulse and clear eye, to the 
field of battle. A few more years 
and the last old veteran will be 
“mustered out.” I rejoice with you, 
that this great organization is to be 
perpetuated in the “Sons of Veter¬ 
ans.” May they prove worthy suc¬ 
cessors of their honored sires. 

But I rejoice still more that the 
deep and sore gash which cleft our 
country from sea to sea, has closed 
with the lapse of years. The reunion 
of the North and South is not the 
tying again of the broken threads of 
a rent national fabric; it is the heal¬ 
ing of a mollified wound, until 
scarcely a scar remains. 

1301. Principle of Sacrifice. 

Our new veterans, as did the old, 
died for the principle of sacrifice. 
They knew they might come back 
shattered in nerve or limb, blind or 
helpless, but whatever happened they 
were going. If it took a road built 
of American dead from Boston to 
Berlin they were willing to be the 
paving stones. They died for the 
principle of self-sacrifice,—we must 
live for it. Empty our lives of the 
cheap stuff and fill them with the 
treasures of God. “He that loseth 
his life shall find it.” We shall gain 
by spending. We shall win by losing., 

Each of those crosses spells sacri¬ 
ficial service. The dead realized on 
earth the highest task of heaven, 
“His servants shall serve him.” Every 
one of those crosses marks the resting 
place of a burden-bearer. They have 
left a burden that must be borne by 
others. We must bear that burden if 
we are to be loyal to the dead. 

1302. Died to End War. 

Our new veterans, as the old, died 
to end war. The dead didn’t fight 
Germany, they fought war. “If I 
live,” said one, “I am going to spend 
my life working for peace.” He didn’t 



THE GOD OF BATTLES 


3i5 


live—he fell among the poppies of 
Flanders field. We live—we must be 
baptized for the dead. We must 
swear that never again shall this 
thing be. Cry to the militarist and 
the war lords as they cried—“You 
shall not pass!” If the militarist 
comes back, then the dead have died 
in vain. We pray, “Thy Kingdom 
Come.” Does that mean a kingdom 
where the sword settles disputes? 
“Thy Will be Done.” Is it His will 
that nations should mount the tread¬ 
mill of war? The end of war is 
possible—we must make it actual. We 
must determine that every gun and 
sword shall go to the scrap heap.— 
Rev. Thomas Lutman. 

1303. The Victory of the Average 

Man. 

The “rule of the best,” so-called, 
has ruined all the alleged republics 
of history. Tarquin the Proud, walk¬ 
ing with his prime minister in the 
royal gardens, was asked, “Which is 
the strongest form of government?” 
He said not a word, but with his staff 
whipped off the heads of the tallest 
poppies. That was a wise answer. 
Abraham Lincoln was of the same 
mind. “Have faith,” said he, “in the 
people.” In any case, whether we like 
it or not, this is the theory of our 
Government. For want of appre¬ 
hending it, reformers become pes¬ 
simists and political preachers de¬ 
velop into common scolds. Level 
down! is the word; and Level up! 
is the word; and Strike the average I 
is the secret of our political life. So 
long as the average man is true to his 
responsibilities, God reigns and the 
country is safe.— Rev. D. J. Burrell, 
D.D. 

1304. Memorial Day at Arlington. 

Did ever a President of the United 
States lead in public prayer before 
the day when Mr. Harding, beside the 
bier of the unknown soldier at Arling¬ 


ton, ended his funeral oration by 
reciting with deepest reverence “the 
Prayer our Lord taught us”? We 
remember no other such instance. 
And certainly in years to come this 
President’s prayer on so solemn an 
occasion will not be outside the mem¬ 
ory of Americans. It gave a touch 
of sublime attestation to his pledge, 
spoken just before, that this nation of 
ours shall evermore be consecrated to 
such a brotherhood of man—such a 
universal reign of good will—as is 
inseparably connected in thought and 
ideal with the petition that the Presi¬ 
dent repeated so reverently—“Thy 
kingdom come.” Memorial Day has 
new meaning. The old veterans are 
not all gone, but we have new veter¬ 
ans and new reasons for observing 
Memorial Day. 

1305. The God of Battles. 

Just after the famous engagement 
off Santiago de Cuba, in which the 
Spanish squadron was destroyed, 
Commodore Schley, coming along¬ 
side the Texas from the Cristobal 
Colon in his gig, called out cheerily: 
“It was a nice fight, Jack, wasn’t it?” 
The veterans of the Texas lined up 
and gave three hearty cheers and a 
tiger for their old commander- in¬ 
chief. Capt. Philip called all hands to 
the quarter deck, and, with bared 
head, thanked God for the almost 
bloodless victory. 

“I want to make public acknowledg¬ 
ment here,” he said, “that I believe in 
God the Father Almighty. I want all 
you officers and men to lift your hats 
and from your hearts offer silent 
thanks to the Almighty.” 

All hats were off. There was a 
moment or two of absolute silence, 
and then the over-wrought fellings of 
the ship’s company relieved them¬ 
selves in three hearty cheers for their 
beloved commander. 



316 


IN FLANDERS FIELDS 


1306. An Immortal Saying. 

Fighting Bob Evans comes in also 
for an immortal saying. “In the 
battle my men fought like American 
seamen, after the battle they were 
tender as American women.” That is 
fine, would illuminate any page of the 
finest author—a well balanced, eupho¬ 
nious and noble contrast—but it is 
not the rough diamond which fell 
from the heart and soul of the brave, 
pious and honest Captain Philip. 

1307. Flowers and Memorial Day. 

Flowers are the most exquisite 
materialization of God’s ideas. He 
has woven them as embroidery for 
Nature’s garments, but most of all 
to furnish men with a token of his 
love. On nodding stem and waving 
branch God has hung the blossoms of 
every conceivable beauty of form and 
color as perpetual expressions of his 
love for us. Is it any wonder then, 
that when human hearts drawn by the 
divine instinct, seek some token of 
their affection, they pluck the flowers, 
messages of God’s love, as symbols 
of their love for each other? It was 
certainly a very beautiful thought, 
born in a Southern woman’s heart 
and first practised by Southern 
woman, of strewing the graves of the 
soldier dead with these beautiful 
tokens of love. 

And wisely we call the day a 
memorial day—a memory day. As 
we strew the graves of our patriot 
dead with blossoms, mingling our 
tears with their heroic dust, two 
words seem to greet our eyes as if 
written on some immortal scroll. 
These words are “memory” and 
“duty.” 

1308. In Flanders Fields. 

From now on every Memorial Day, 
the poem by Lieut. Col. John McCrse, 
will be recited. It is most appro¬ 
priate that such should be the case. 
Lieut. Col. McCrae, of the Canadian 


Expeditionary Forces, was a dis¬ 
tinguished physician of Montreal, 
Canada. He died in Bolougne, 
France, January 28, 1918, and at his 
own request, was buried in Flanders 
with the other fallen soldiers of the 
Allies. His poem, entitled,, “In 
Flanders Fields,” is said to be the 
greatest poem of the war. Many 
answers to it have been written. 

In Flanders Fields the poppies grow 
Between the crosses, row on row. 

That mark our place; and in the sky 
The larks, still bravely singing, fly, 

Scarce heard amid the guns below. 

We are the dead. Short days ago 
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, 
Toved and were loved; and now we lie 
In Flanders Fields. 

Take up our quarrel with the foe! 

To you, from failing hands, we throw 
The torch; be yours to lift it high! 

If ye break faith with us who die 
We shall not sleep, though poppies blow 
In Flanders Fields. 


1309. Bring Flowers. 

Bring flowers, bring flowers, the sweetest, 
the best, 

To garland the beds where our brave are 
at rest. 

Bring pansies for thoughts, unforgotten are 
they; 

Bring laurel for glory they won in the 
fray; 

Bring lilacs for youth—many fell ere their 
prime; 

Bring oak wreaths for liberty, goodness 
sublime; 

Bring chrysanthemums white for the truth 
they implore; 

Bring lilies for peace—they battle no more; 
Bring violets, myrtles, and roses for love; 
Bring snowballs for thoughts of the heaven 
above; 

Bring hawthorn for hope which surmounts 
earthly strife; 

Bring amaranth blossoms for immortal life. 
Bring flowers, bring flowers, the sweetest, 
the best, 

To garland the beds where our brave are 
at rest. 

— Youth's Companion. 

1310. The Hand of God. 

“If I were a religious man, and I 
hope I am,” said Admiral Dewey in 
Manila, “I should say that the work 
of our navy was the hand of God. 
I remember, when we engaged the 
fleet, seeing shells fired directly at 
us, and I do not understand under 



CLASPING HANDiS 


317 


heaven why we escaped." It is as 
easy for God to control human events 
to-day as it was three thousand years 
ago—as why should he not? He, at 
least, is unchangeable. Is it sup- 
posable that He should concern Him¬ 
self over the affairs of a nation of 
three millions and have no care for 
the destinies of a nation of seventy- 
three millions? 

1311. Clasping Hands. 

On a memorable Memorial Day 
observance in New York City a few 
years ago, before an immense audi¬ 
ence in one of its largest auditoriums, 
General Stewart L. Woodford, the 
presiding officer, stepped to the front 
with two gentlemen, one on either 
side, and said, “I have the inexpress¬ 
ible pleasure of presenting to you, 
first, Major Stevens, now Bishop 
Stevens of the Reformed Episcopal 
Church, who pulled the lanyard at 
General Beauregard’s orders, which 
fired the first shot of the Civil War, 
at the Star of the West as she was 
conveying supplies to Fort Sumter; 
and next, General Doubleday, under 
whose orders the first Union gun was 
fired.’’ And then these two former 
foes clasped hands as the vast 
assemblly rose to its feet with tumul¬ 
tuous shouts and cheers. 

1312. A Touching Civil-War Inci¬ 

dent. 

It was at the battle of Wauhatchie, 
in Tennessee. When the Union 
army’s victory was achieved a shout 
went up, “It was Geary’s men that 
won the fight. Where is General 
Geary? Bring him so we may con¬ 
gratulate, promote, and brevet him.’’ 
The staff officers found Geary in his 
tent, with his arms folded and in 
utter dejection. The staff officer 
rushed in and congratulated him and 
said, “General Thomas wants you to 
come to the field at once, so that you 
may be promoted and breveted. I 


am glad that you got through safe.’’ 
“Oh, no!’’ said Geary, “don’t con¬ 
gratulate me. I can’t bear it. Tell 
General Thomas I cannot come. Tell 
him that I care nothing for pro¬ 
motion.’’ 

The officer said, “I cannot go back 
to General Thomas with an answer 
like that. You are all right. You 
haven’t a scratch. You are not 
wounded.’’ 

Then said Geary, “I am wounded, 
I am mortally wounded. I am shot 
through the heart.’’ Then walking 
over to a corner of the tent, the 
general turned back a blanket and ex¬ 
posed the dead body of his only son, 
who had been shot through the heart. 
For that father the shouts of victory 
seemed like mockeries. His own 
heart was crushed and broken by 
grief over the death of his precious 
son. 

This incident only indicates some¬ 
thing of the awful price in blood and 
tears and heartaches, paid for the 
preservation of the Union and the 
ridding of the country of slavery. 

1313. “And It Shall Be.” 

One Memorial Day, in a New 
England town, the flag on a certain 
school-house was set flying at half- 
mast, in pathetic memory of the 
perished patriots of the nation. After 
a time there came along a man (who 
might have been the janitor, or a 
school-committeeman), and, without 
saying anything to anyone, he quietly 
hoisted the flag to the top of the mast. 
That man believed more in the future 
than he did in the past. He was con¬ 
vinced that though the patriots had 
fallen patriotism had not perished. 
His motto was, “ ‘Let the dead bury 
their dead,’ but go thou and build up 
the kingdom of the future, which is 
the kingdom of God!” 

There is always call in a jeopardized 
republic for these patriots of the 
future—for the man whose favorite 



3i8 


WOODEN BULLETS 


text in the Bible consists of the 
prophecy, “And it shall be.” What 
shall be? God’s will and way in the 
lives of individuals and of nations 
—those “bright designs” which he is 
even now treasuring up, and the 
graces and glories of the millennial 
state of existence. Almost the whole 
of the Bible, or at any rate of the 
New Testament, is a categorical, if 
not an itemized, answer to that ques¬ 
tion, “What shall be?” 

Then let the chastened, hallowed 
memories of “Memorial Day” prove; 
to be the rich, warm soil in which the 
growths of future years may pro¬ 
phetically find to-day a germinal 
start. As the past has served the 
present so the present is under obliga¬ 
tion to the future. “After us the 
deluge!” is the rant of the uncon¬ 
cerned voluptuary whose end is de¬ 
struction. Let ours be a different 
motto, conceived in Christian hope¬ 
fulness and actualized with faith and 
prayer—We will not forget Thy 
word, O God! We will walk forever 
in Thy paths!— Rev. C. A. S. Dwight. 

1314. Our Memorial Day. 

“Where the grasses gently wave 
Over many an unknown grave, 

Bend with me a listening ear; 

Then, if we are swift to hear, 

Sweeter than a silver bell, 

Softer than when dews are shed, 

Comes this message from the dead: 
‘Children, love your country well. 
Love it well.’ ” 

1315. Wooden Bullets. 

One of our naval officers who was 
rummaging around on the wrecked 
Spanish Maria Teresa, Spanish war, 
found a number of Mauser bullets 
made of wood and filled with hair 
and a sprinkle of powder. What a 
story that find told of official dis¬ 
honesty and national rottenness? 
How could such a nation fight? 
Wooden bullets are often used in the 
warfare against evil in the world. 
They are sometimes fired from the 
pulpit. 


1316. The Nation’s Solemn Tryst. 

“We are not many, we who stand 
Beside our comrades’ graves to-day, 

Yet, while we live, with reverent hearts 
We’ll honor those who went before; 
While as each brother, called, departs, 

Is re-enlisted one name more. 

We stand upon the river’s verge 
And see the Golden City shine. . . 
Dividing River, bright ana cool, 

O’er which we all must take our way. 

When to that Harbor Beautiful 

We all shall sail some day—some day.” 

1317. Faith of Captain Philip. 

“I wish to make confession that I 
have implicit faith in God and in the 
officers and crew of the ‘Texas,’ but 
my faith in you is secondary only to 
my faith in God. We have seen what 
He has done for us in allowing us to 
achieve so great a victory, and I want 
to ask you all, or at least every man 
who has no scruples, to uncover his 
head with me and silently offer a word 
of thanks to God for his goodness 
toward us all.” 

This was what Capt. J. W. Philip 
said to his officers and men immedi¬ 
ately after the great battle off San¬ 
tiago de Cuba. 

It was a beautiful afternoon. God’s 
heavens never looked so clear and 
the Stars and Stripes never seemed 
so pure as they did when we lay 
alongside of the “Cristobal Colon” 
after she had been beached and had 
surrendered to us. 

We had been engaged in a fierce 
fight to the death when these words 
came from the lips of the same man 
who had a few moments before given 
the various orders for attack.— Rev. 
H. W. Jones. 

1318. Not a Coward. 

A surgeon relates that before San¬ 
tiago, he going to the front, came upon 
a young officer sitting beside the road, 
trembling like a leaf and whiter than 
the dead men around him. At sight 
of the surgeon he began to talk. “I’m 
a coward,” he said; “I knew I’d run, 
and I did. Oh, I wish you’d kill me! 
I’m disgraced forever. I just got 



THE HALE OF HEROES 


3i9 


scared. I knew I would. I was going 
along all right, not thinking of any¬ 
thing but getting at the Spaniards, 
yelling to my men to come on, and 
running ahead as fast as I could, 
when all of a sudden I stubbed my 
toe on something, and then I can’t 
remember being scared, but I must 
have been, for I came galloping back 
here, sick as a dog. Oh, I feel so 
awfully gone! I’m a low coward, 
and I wish I were dead! Oh, why 
don’t somebody shoot me! I’ve got 
such an awful goneness right here,” 
and he put his hand to his stomach. 
The surgeon gave him a quick look 
and caught him as he plunged forward 
in a faint. Where the awful goneness 
was a Mauser bullet had found its 
billit. They carried the wounded man 
to the field hospital and he chuckled 
all the way; “Oh, my! oh, my!” he 
said, over and over; “I wasn’t 
scared! I wasn’t scared!” And then 
he would laugh delightedly: “I 
wasn’t scared. I was hit—I was just 
hit. I ain’t a coward after all 1” 

1319. Memorial Day Revival. 

The World War gives new sig¬ 
nificance to Memorial Day. Up to 
1914 the day was losing. The veterans 
had died off in great number; a new 
generation had come on the stage, and 
to the foreign born Antietam and 
Chancellorsville were unknown words. 
It was painful to older ones who 
remembered the moving significance 
of the memorial in the last century to 
note that the day was turned over 
pretty completely to sports and diver¬ 
sion. However, there are now new 
dead to recall and honor. In hun¬ 
dreds of thousands of homes and to 
millions of men and women the day 
set apart for the soldier dead must 
bring to mind youths no less hand¬ 
some and alert and rejoicing than 
those on the streets—but now no 
more. On field and in hospital they 
have died since 1917. The procla¬ 


mation of President Harding is a 
call to fitting tribute on May 30. 

1320. Keeping Faith with the Dead. 

Behind the crosses of Flanders 
overtopping them is the cross of Cal¬ 
vary, “Fill up the sufferings of the 
Lord Jesus.” What does that mean? 
Take his place! Be baptized for him. 
Carry the banner of the Gospel. Lift 
it high! Don’t break faith with him. 
Fight until the kingdoms of this world 
have become the kingdoms of the 
Lord Jesus. 

1321. The Hall of Heroes. 

Our hero-dead! They lie on lonely 
mountain side, and in sequestered glen, 
and not a few, happily, in the home 
cemetery amid ancestral ashes. Some 
were left to sleep with beat of muffled 
drum and droop of folded flag; but 
many more with no requiem, save that 
of sighing wind and whispering foli¬ 
age. One has his name cut deep and 
large in monumental granite, but, 
alas! not a few have no memento 
of their memory, save a pine-board 
with the legend, “Unknown!” Still 
of each alike is it true: 

“He sleeps while the bells of autumn toll 

Or the murmuring song of spring flits by 
Till the crackling heavens in thunder roll 
To the bugle blast on high.” 

In Sweden long years ago the youth 
who was intended to serve his country 
was taken into the Hall of the Heroes 
—a room filled with paintings and 
statues of the nation’s valiant men, 
whose deeds were recited to him until 
his mind was fired with great purposes 
and lofty ideals, and animated with an 
ambition to do what these heroes had 
done, and so win a place among them. 
Such a Hall of Heroes is Memorial 
Day, and not its least service is to 
kindle in Young America the noblest 
devotion to God and country—to re¬ 
mind them that 

“The brave alone shall win the crown; 
The noble only clasp the bay.” 

— Rev. S. B. Dunn, D.D. 



320 


MEMORIAL OF WOMAN’S WORK 


1322. Memorial of Women’s Work. 

On Memorial Day the work of our 
women is not mentioned as often as 
it should be. A fuller record of the 
personal sacrifices and services of 
our American women in times of war 
is due. We hear of the Spartan 
mother who presented her sons with 
shields with the injunction to return 
with them or on them. We read of 
the fair dames and maidens of Car¬ 
thage who diverted themselves of 
their beautiful tresses to furnish 
bow-strings for their soldiers. We 
are told of the Jewish women who 
preferred a death of torture to the 
acknowledgement of the power of 
the tyrant over their country’s rulers 
and their faith. Might we not well 
hear more of the thousands of wives 
and mothers and maidens who in re¬ 
volutionary and in the more recent 
wars gave up freely at their country’s 
call their best beloved and also ren¬ 
dered active, self-sacrificing service 
at home or in the field? 

1323. Heroic Deeds of the Spanish 

War. 

Such deeds as these should not be 
forgotten. 

Rowland’s brave work. Cowboy 
Rowland, from Deming, New Mexico, 
was shot through the thigh. He limped 
to the hospital on the trail, and was 
told that nothing could be done for 
him. He crawled to the front on his 
belly, firing with the rest. 

The brave “skulker.” Colonel Wood 
saw a trooper apparently skulking 
fifty feet in the rear of the firing line 
and ordered him sharply to advance. 
The boy rose, hurried forward, limp¬ 
ing. As he took his place and raised 
his carbine, he said: “My leg was a 
little stiff, sir.” Colonel Wood looked 
and saw that a bullet had ploughed 
along his leg for twelve inches. 

Commended for bravery. When 
Battery A, Second Light Artillery, 


tried to advance beyond El Poyo, 
Privates Helen, Smith and Underwood 
were blown to pieces by shells, and 
Sergeant Helvey and Privates Veite 
and Cornfield were badly hurt, and 
other men were wounded, including 
Corporal Keene and Private Barr. 
One of them was shot three times and 
the other was shot twice; but, in spite 
of their injuries, they stuck to the 
crippled guns until the enemy was 
forced to give up the assault. 

1324. Tenderness in Battle. 

“Don’t cheer!” shouted Captain 
Philip, after the Spanish vessel had 
been driven ashore at Santiago; “the 
poor devils are dying.” It seems to 
us, that this expression of a tender, 
sympathetic humanity is just as fine 
as the “Kiss me, Hardy,” of the dying 
Nelson. 

Marshall, the correspondent. The 
spirit of correspondent Marshall, of 
the New York “Journal,” was admir¬ 
able. He was shot in the first firing 
line, and, though the bullet passed 
within an inch of his spine and threw 
him into convulsions, he continued, in 
intervals of consciousness to dictate 
the story of the fight. 

1325. A Soldier's Description of 

War. 

A Massachusetts veteran of the Civil 
War, a quaint character of Irish birth, 
bore a local reputation for heroic serv¬ 
ice. He was often besought by the 
younger generation to tell his story 
of his part in the bloody struggle. 
One day, finding himself besieged by 
a number of persisting questioners, the 
modest warrior consented to speak. 

“We’d get up in the mornin’ at five 
o’clock,” he began, “an’ have break¬ 
fast. Begin fightin’ at six, knock off 
at twelve. Begin’ shootin ’ag’in at one, 
knock off at six and ate supper, an’ 
turn in to sleep. Every day the same 
old thing; that’s all.” 




DONE FOR EITTLE ONES 


321 


1326. Tall Monuments. 

Tall monuments, artificially chiseled 
with rarest skill, cannot honor our 
dead soldiers as much as the loyal, 
patriotic impulse planted in the hearts 
of our boys and girls to-day by the 
record of their deeds, impulses which, 
if properly nourished, shall engender 


loyalty, patriotism, and love for the 
flag which makes free,— 

“That flag of the heroes who left us their 
glory, 

Borne through their battlefield’s thunder 
and flame, 

Blazoned in song and illumined in story, 
Wave o’er us all who inherit their 
flame.’’ 

— Rev. H. H. Hutchins. 


XX. CHILDREN’S DAY 

(Usually Observed the Second Sunday in June.) 


1327. Done for Little Ones. 

That was a fine thing I read about 
the other day. A policeman in Glas¬ 
gow saw a poor woman pick up some¬ 
thing from the street, quickly put it 
in her apron, and then hurry on. 
Thinking it was something valuable, 
he went up and asked her what it was 
she was concealing. The woman was 
very confused and would not answer 
him for a time, and that, of course, 
only confirmed his suspicions. But 
at last she opened her apron, and 
what was there?—only a few pieces 
of broken glass. The important police¬ 
man felt, of course, a little crestfallen. 
Her explanation, however, was very 
touching: “I thought”; she said, 
looking at the broken bits of glass, 
“that I would take them out of the 
way of the bairns’ feet.” You know 
in Scotland in the summer time, the 
children like to go about barefooted, 
and this dear, good woman, poor as 
she was, had a motherly heart, and 
removed out of the way of the chil¬ 
dren’s feet what might have hurt them. 
“That was not a great thing,” some 
might say, but the angels would say 
it was one of the greatest because it 
was done in the spirit of love. In 
the spirit of love let us remove dan¬ 
gers from the paths of the little ones. 
Let us dedicate ourselves to this work 
this Children’s Day.— H , 

21 


1328. “Thank You, God!” 

A dear little girl, finding an un¬ 
expected pleasure awaiting her one 
morning smiled up at the sky sweetly, 
reverently remarked, “Thank you, 
God!” Another little girl, brimming 
over with the innocent joy of life, 
asked of her mother if it would 
not be all right for her to say “Good 
morning” to God as she did to the 
flowers and the trees and her pets, 
as well as to members of the family. 

A tiny boy, noting that rain fol¬ 
lowed a meeting called to pray for it, 
naively inquired when the “Thank 
you!” meeting would take place. 

We smile at the little ones, but, 
after all, shouldn’t the smile be a bit 
thoughtful? For the “little ones,” as 
we know, “behold the face of their 
Father” more clearly and frequently 
than do those of us whose spiritual 
sight is dimmed by too long earthly 
contact .—Ethel Colson. 

1329. No Difference. 

Mercy, a little colored girl, eight 
years old, was setting the table, when 
the son of the house, who was in the 
room, said to her, “Mercy, do you 
pray?” The suddenness of the ques¬ 
tion confused her a little, but she 
answered, “Yes, every morning and 
every night.” 

“Do you think God hears you?” 
the boy asked. And she answered 
promptly, “I know he does,” 




322 


CHILDHOOD ADRIFT 


“But do you think,” said he, try¬ 
ing to puzzle her, “that he hears your 
prayers as readily as those of white 
children ?” 

For full three minutes the child 
kept on with her work; then she 
slowly said, “Master George, I pray 
into God’s ears, and not his eyes. 
My voice is just like any other girl's; 
and if I say what I ought to say, God 
don’t look at my skin.” 

In these days even the boys and 
girls need to learn such lessons as 
this. 

1330. A Self-winder. 

Tommy, whose uncle was a farmer, 
had been spending his holidays there. 
One morning, anxious to amuse the 
youngster, his uncle took him round 
to make a tour of the land. 

In the yard they came across a 
small retriever puppy, who was whirl¬ 
ing round and round chasing his tail. 

“Oh, uncle,” cried Tommy, “what 
kind of a dog is that?” 

“That’s a watch dog, Tommy,” re¬ 
plied his uncle. 

“Oh, I see,” continued the little 
lad, “I suppose he is winding himself 
up now I” 

Boys, you can make an application 
of that story. Be a self-winder. If 
you are a watch be the best kind of a 
watch.—a self-winder.— H. 

1331. Not Giving Up. 

Among some skaters was a boy so 
small and so evidently a beginner that 
his frequent mishaps awakened the 
pity of a tender-hearted, if not wise, 
spectator. 

“Sonny, you are getting all bumped 
up,” she said. “I wouldn’t stay on 
the ice and keep falling down so; 
I’d just come off and watch the 
others.” 

The child looked from his advisor 
to the shining steel on his feet and 
answered, half indignantly. 

“I didn’t get some new skates to 


give up with; I got ’em to learn how 
with.” 

Hard tasks are never sent for us 
“to give up with”; they are always 
intended to awaken strength, skill and 
courage in learning how to master 
them. 

1332. Childhood Adrift. 

A little four-year-old child strayed 
from her home near Liverpool, Perry 
County, Pennsylvania, recently, and 
came unobserved to the bank of the 
Susquehannah River. A skiff was 
lightly beached on the shore, and the 
tiny little girl got into it. The jar 
loosened the boat from its hold and it 
drifted away. After several hours 
had elapsed the mother missed the child 
and instituted a search, but without 
success. She then thought of the 
river, and went to the place where the 
boat had been beached, and where 
she and the child had so often gone 
together. She was filled with horror 
to observe that the boat was not there, 
firmly believing that the child had 
been in it and had been carried away 
with it. After an all night search 
the child was found in the boat twenty 
miles away, and was returned to her 
almost distracted mother. Alas, all 
the children who get adrift do not 
reach home again. There are dangers 
that beset children on all sides, and 
parents need to watch with ceaseless 
vigilance to save them from drift¬ 
ing away from the harbor of safety. 

1333- Look Up. 

Miss Margaret Slattery told us that 
one day she was walking along the 
street when she heard a little voice 
say: “Hello, Miss Slattery.” She 
looked around, but saw no one. Again 
the little voice. She looked every¬ 
where, but still saw no one. Then 
the little voice said, “Keep a-lookin’ 
up, Miss Slattery.” She said, “I 
looked up, and up, and up, and finally 
saw her way up in a tenement house, 



PRETEND YOU ARE A BIRD 


3 2 3 


and when I found her she said, ‘You 
didn’t see me, Miss Slattery, because 
you didn’t look high enough.’ ” Jesus 
took the little children up into his arms, 
and taught us not to look down for 
them any longer. 

1334. Kindo. 

Not long ago I heard a child who 
had mastered only two or three words, 
in one of which I was deeply in¬ 
terested. It sounded like “kindo.” I 
wondered what it could be. The ac¬ 
tive and lovely baby was using it often 
as she was trying this and that experi¬ 
ment in seeking to master her new and 
wonderful world. She could almost 
hurl her little word at the things she 
struggled with. I soon found out 
what “kindo” meant. It was her ab¬ 
breviation for what her mother had 
said to her often, “Baby can do it.” 
Wise mother! starting the child on 
the journey of life equipped with the 
truth that “if can be done.” More than 
once since then when I have been in 
the presence of a hard task I have 
seen that little child trying to handle 
a new experience and saying to it, 
“Kindo, kindo.”— Rev. O. S. Davis, 
D.D. 

1335 - Children’s Sayings. 

My kindergarten children were talk¬ 
ing about a little new-comer, who had 
been adopted into a childless family. 
“Robbie has been adopted,” said Will. 

“Have you ever been adopted, 
Anna?” 

“No,” replied Anna, adding,—with 
a note of triumph, “I’ve never been 
adopted, but I have been vaccinated.” 

A small boy of Wilbraham, Mas¬ 
sachusetts, heard his parents talk of 
moving. 

“Where are we going?” he asked. 

“We are going to St. Paul,” said 
his mother. “St. Paul is in heaven,” 
he said in an awestruck voice. “Are 
we going to live in heaven?” 


When our Constance returned from 
Sunday school kindergarten, she was 
asked, “What did you learn to-day?” 
She replied, “Teacher told us God 
made man. What I want to know is, 
who made the women and children?” 
—Julia B. Peck. 

1336. Bell That Rings Under the 
Sea. 

This bell is rung by electricity under 
the sea to warn a ship of rocks in 
foggy weather. The ship has a won¬ 
derful microphone inside its hull on 
either side; this microphone collects 
the ringing of the bell and magnifies 
the sound. A wire connects each 
microphone with the receiver of a 
telephone in the wheelhouse of the 
ship. The captain at once turns his 
ship until he hears the bell equally 
well from each microphone, and when 
he points his ship toward the bell. 
His chart marks the position of the 
bell, and he knows where he is in the 
thickest fog. 

Children, the Bible is a bell that 
rings under the sea. It tells us the 
right way, warns us from the wrong 
way. Let us take this lesson home 
from this Children’s Day service.— 
H. 

1337 - Pretend You Are a Bird. 

Whenever you’re angry, 

Pretend you’re a bird, 

And sing just a little 
But don’t say a word. 

—Normal Instructor . 

1338. If I Were You. 

If I a little girl could be, 

Well—just like you, 

With lips as rosy, cheeks as fair. 

Such eyes of blue, and shining hair. 
What do you think I’d do? 

I’d wear so bright and sweet a smile, 

I’d be so loving all the while, 

I’d be so helpful with my hand. 

So quick and gentle to command, 

You soon would see. 

That everyone would turn to say, 

“ ’Tis good to meet that child to-day.” 

Yes, yes, my dear; that’s what I’d do 
If I were you. 

— Independent. 



324 


THE SWAN’S DINNER BELL 


1339. If I Were a Girl. 

Here is a little poem by Linnie 
Hawley Drake that has in it good 
Children’s Day lessons. 

If I were a girl, a bright, winsome girl. 
Just leaving my childhood behind, 

I would be so neat from my head to my 
feet, 

That never a fault could one find. 

So helpful to mother, so gentle to brother, 
I’d have things so cheery and sweet 
That the streets and their glare could 
never compare 

With the charms of a home so replete. 

If I were a girl, a true-hearted girl. 

Just budding to fair womanhood, 

There’s many a thing that I would not do. 
And numberless more that I would; 

I never would frown, with my mouth 
drawn down, 

For the creases will come there to stay; 
But sing like a lark, should the day be 
dark— 

Keep a glow in my heart, anyway! 

If I were a girl, a fond, loving girl. 

With father o’erburdened with care, 

I would walk at his side, with sweet, tender 
pride, 

With ever a kiss and a prayer. 

Not a secret I’d keep that could lead to 
deceit. 

Not a thought I should blush to share; 
Not a friend my parents would disap¬ 
prove— 

I would trust such a girl anywhere. 

1340. One-minute Sermon. 

The other day a peddler drove by 
crying his wares, and each time one 
of the wheels of his wagon rolled 
round there was an unearthly squeak 
and a creak that grated harshly on the 
ears that had to listen to it. It was 
a symbol of many lives that creak, 
being rusty about the gearings and 
squeakingly move with difficulty, for 
want of lubrication. 

There is a story of an old man 
who caried a little can of oil with 
him everywhere he went, and if he 
passed through a door that squeaked 
he poured a little oil on the hinges. 
If he came to a gate and it opened 
hard, he oiled it. And thus he passed 
through life, lubricating all the rusty, 
squeaking and hard places, and making 
it easier for those who came after him. 
He filled his can daily, and carried it 
with him to lubricate,—when and 


wherever needed. Blessed is the girl 
or boy who carries an oil can to 
lubricate life and make things go 
smoothly.— Rev. C. A. Terhune. 

1341. The Swan’s Dinner Bell. 

There is a pretty story that is 
often told about the swans in the moat 
of the palace of the Bishop of Wells, 
England. The old gatehouse, with its 
gray, ivygrown walls, still stands, and 
the swans sail up and down the dark 
waters of the moat, which centuries 
ago was a defense of the castle. 

The peculiar thing about these swans 
is that they ring a dinner bell when¬ 
ever they are hungry, and expect to 
have it answered at once. A long 
string hangs out of the gatehouse 
window and, as the story is told, when 
the swans are hungry, the leader swims 
gravely up to the bell rope, pulls at 
it, and then waits quietly for the lodge- 
keeper’s wife to bring out her basket 
of bread. 

It is said that fifty years ago the 
daughter of the bishop who lived there 
then taught the swans this trick with 
great patience and care. The swans 
that have come since have apparently 
in turn learned the secret of the 
bell rope so that one who is able to 
perceive the connection between the 
pulling of the string and the appear¬ 
ing of the bread-basket, has always 
been among them. That the swans 
communicate their demand for bread 
to their leader, who is always the one 
to ring the bell, is evident from the 
fact that after the black swans were 
introduced into the moat the ringing 
became so frequent that the house¬ 
keeper had to take the string in to 
secure herself a little peace. Evi¬ 
dently the newcomers were hearty 
eaters. 

We all have a right to pray: “Give 
us this day our daily bread.” We are 
taught, “Ask and ye shall receive.” 
Let the swans teach us this Children’s 
Day the lesson of prayer.— H. 



HAVING TWO FACES 


3 2 5 


1342. Being Happy. 

A little boy busy at play gave a glad 
little laugh. “Why, what happened, 
John?” his father asked. “Nothing, 
father; only I’m happy because it’s 
your holiday and you’re home with 
mother and me, and it sort of bubbles 
over.” 

Once some of God’s people were so 
happy that they said: “Then was our 
mouth filled with laughter, and our 
tongue with singing.” The heavenly 
Father, like a good earthly father, 
gives joy to his children just by being 
near them, and by the loving things 
he does for them. He does not let 
yesterday’s loving kindness do for 
to-day; his mercies are new every 
morning. 

On Children’s Day be happy,—be 
real happy.— H. 

1343. Having Two Faces. 

Have you ever seen a person who 
had two faces? I have seen such 
people. These strange folks can 
change their faces whenever they wish. 

One girl I met at Sabbath school 
and then visiting among her friends. 
The face she had on at these times 
was sweet and kind, so that I thought 
her a very pretty girl. I supposed 
that she always wore such a face, 
for people are supposed to have only 
one. But one day I went to her house, 
and just think! She had on a face that 
was so ugly and cross-looking I hardly 
knew her. She changed quickly, but 
not before I saw it. If she had worn 
that face out in company, no one would 
have liked her; but I learned that it 
was her home face. 

A little boy I know has the finest 
face, all smiles and sunshine, that he 
puts on whenever he can have his own 
way. But just let some one cross 
him in anything, and instantly he puts 
on a face covered over with pouts 
and frowns. He will wear that ugly 
face until we all are very tired of it. 

Another boy I knew had one face 


that he used when he worked and a 
very different face that he wore when 
he played. His work face was long 
and the corners of the mouth drew 
down. It made him look very un¬ 
happy. And to look at him made 
mamma sad. But his play face, which 
he put on when he could play ball or 
go fishing, was so round and smiling 
that you would think him the happiest 
boy anywhere. 

I know a man who had two faces 
when he was a boy, but now he has 
just one, and it is the ugly face. 
That is the way all these two-faced 
people get. I would rather have just 
one smiling face and wear it all the 
time. 

1344. Dollies had the Measles. 

When Queen Wilhelmina was a 
little child, she was not allowed or¬ 
dinarily, says the Chicago Herald, to 
share dinner with the older members 
of the royal household. Only on 
special occasions was she permitted 
to make her appearance at dessert, and 
place herself beside some special 
friend. 

One day she was seated beside a fine 
and courtly old general. Presently she 
exclaimed: 

“I wonder you’re not afraid to sit 
next to me!” 

Everybody in the room turned at 
the sound of the child’s treble. 

“On the contrary, I am pleased and 
honored to sit next to my future queen. 
Why should I be afraid?” 

Assuming a woe-begone expression, 
the little queen replied: “Because all 
my dolls have the measles.” 

I hope all the little girls who are 
here this Children’s Day are as sym¬ 
pathetic, and bright, as well, as was 
little Wilhelmina.— H. 

1345. Funny Sayings of Children. 

A small boy in the juvenile gram¬ 
mar class, being told to compare the 



326 THE MAN WHO LIVES IN THE PANSY 


adjective “little,” answered: “Little, 
small, nothing at all.” 

Robert had been running one day 
and when he came in the house was 
panting very hard. His grandmother 
asked him what was the matter, and 
he said, 

“I am just getting the tired out.” 

His pet dog was dead, and Willie 
W. was inconsolable. In vain his 
parents sought to comfort the lad, 
offering to replace his pet. To this, 
Willie would not listen. After griev¬ 
ing for a week, and thereby disturbing 
the peace of the entire household, 
rushing into his mother’s room one 
day, Willie burst forth: “O mamma, 
mamma! Do get me another dog! 
Now I know just how the widowers 
feel. I must have another dog!” 

He got one. 

One cold morning our little brother, 
four years old, was playing about un¬ 
noticed, while his mother was busy 
about her work. Finally, tiring of his 
play, he evinced a desire to talk, and 
said, “Mother, what am I about?” 

As the mother gave no heed to his 
question, he insisted upon an answer 
by the same query in a loud voice, 
“Mother, what am I about?” 

Aroused by the little fellow’s ear¬ 
nestness, his mother made answer: 
“I do not know. What are you 
about ?” 

Imagine her surprise when the baby 
voice answered, soberly but earnestly, 
“I’m about froze.” 

I know of a little boy who, like 
many other small chaps, was capable 
of asking an unlimited number of 
questions, some of which were very 
difficult to answer, with any degree 
of satisfaction. One morning, how¬ 
ever, he capped the climax in that line 
when, after having studied the fire 
very seriously for some time, he asked, 
“Mamma, where does the fire go when 
it goes out?” 

“Oh, mamma,” exclaimed little 
Bessie, “just look what big ears that 


man has!” “Hush,” responded the 
mother in a whisper, “the gentleman 
might hear you.” “Well,” continued 
Bessie, “if he can’t he ought to take 
down his signs.” 

1346. What a Little Worm Did. 

“Papa,” said a six-year-old boy 
one morning, as he and his father 
walked through an orchard, “What 
made the leaves of that tree turn 
yellow?” “True enough,” said his 
father, “they are turning very fast; 
there must be a worm at work some¬ 
where.” So he went and examined 
about the roots, and he found that a 
worm had dug its way into the very 
heart of the tree and had killed it. 
That worm represents sin, and one sin 
allowed in the heart will be the means 
of destroying our peace with God. 

1347. A Man Who Lives in the 

Pansy. 

The Little Sister came in from the 
garden, her hands full of flowers, and 
begged her mamma for a story—“a 
brand new one, mamma.” So mamma 
tried to think of a new story, while 
the Little Sister kept very still. At 
last mamma caught sight of a pansy 
among the flowers that Little Sister 
held, and this is what she told the 
Little Sister. 

“In the middle of every pansy there 
lives a little old man. He must be a 
very cold little man, too, for he is 
always wrapped in a little yellow 
blanket, and even then has to have an 
extra covering of velvet pansy leaves 
to keep him warm. And he sits in the 
flower with only his head uncovered, 
so that he can see the world. 

“But the queerest thing about this 
little old man is that he always keeps 
his feet in a foot-tub. Such a funny 
little tub, too—so long and narrow that 
you wonder how he manages to get 
his feet in it. He does, though, for, 
when you pull the tub off, there you 



GOOD INTENTIONS 


3 2 7 


will discover his two tiny feet, just as 
real as can be.” 

The next time you pick a pansy see 
if you can find the man and his little 
foot-tub. 

Every flower here this glad Chil¬ 
dren’s Day has some story to tell. 
You listen, and learn many sweet 
lessons for life and duty.— H. 

1348. Tom Thumb. 

Yes, there was a real Tom Thumb, 
not as small as the dwarf told of in 
old fairy tales and ballads, however. 
He was about three feet high, and 
was just as famous as he was small. 
Your father and mother may have 
seen him and talked to him. I had 
that privilege when quite a small boy. 

One of his best friends was Mr. 
Barnum, whose wonderful circus de¬ 
lighted little folks years ago. He and 
Mr. Barnum are buried in the same 
church-yard in a little town in Con¬ 
necticut. It was Mr. Barnum who 
made him famous, for the little dwarf 
became part of his circus. Children 
in every big city in the country and in 
many small towns and villages learned 
to love “General Tom Thumb” and 
to watch for his coming- He could 
sing the national airs of any country 
he visited. Kings and queens sent for 
him to come to their palaces, and he 
made friends among the most power¬ 
ful people, as well as among those in 
more humble circumstances. In fact, 
he had a wondreful life and was a 
great favorite. 

The things that people can accom¬ 
plish do not depend on their size. The 
children who are here will grow up 
and be much bigger than Tom Thumb; 
but they do not have to wait to grow 
up, but can do a great deal of good 
now, day by day.— H. 

1349. Good Intentions. 

Little Dot was drawing a picture 
with pen and ink on a paper- It turned 
out to be a cat without a tail. 


“Where’s the tail?” asked the 
mother. 

She looked puzzled for a moment, 
and then replied: “Why, it is in the 
ink bottle yet!” 

Many of our good intentions, dear 
young friends, are like that. They 
are in the ink bottle yet. They are not 
yet definite enough. 

We each intend to enter actively 
into the Christian life. But, let us not 
forget, now is the accepted time. Now 
is the day of salvation. Now is the 
time to carry out our good intentions. 
This moment is the time of oppor¬ 
tunity.— H. 

1350. Candle Lesson for Children’s 
Day. 

An evangelist was talking to a meet¬ 
ing of children. He brought out a 
row of candles on a board; a very 
long candle was at one end, a very 
short one at the other. Between the 
long row and the short one were 
candles of various heights. He said 
that by these candles he wanted to 
represent the grandfather, father and 
mother, boys and girls and the baby 
of a family who never heard of Christ 
until a missionary came,—whom he 
represented by a lighted candle—and 
then they all gave their hearts to 
Jesus, and from that day loved and 
served Him- He then asked which 
candle they thought represented the 
grandfather, the mother, and so on. 
They all thought that the tallest 
candle would be the grandfather, but 
he told them; “No, that stands for the 
baby, the youngest member in the 
family.” Presently one little boy said, 
“I know why; he has the change to 
shine the longest for Jesus.” 

Yes, this is one of the great advan¬ 
tages of being a little Christian—of 
beginning early. You have the privi¬ 
lege of shining for Jesus so long. 
If any of you have not done so, that is a 
very special reason why you should 
give your hearts to Jesus now, while 




328 


WATCH YOUR STEPS 


you are young. Then you can shine 
for Him as long as you live, and you 
can also have the joys of His religion 
as long as you live. Pray, “O, satisfy 
us early with thy mercy; that we may 
rejoice and be glad all our days.”— H. 

1351. Watch Your Steps. 

An interesting speaker related re¬ 
cently, in an effective address, that at 
the subway stations in New York a 
man was placed whose business it was 
to repeat “Watch you step,” as pas¬ 
sengers were coming to and passing 
from trains, for a misstep might mean 
a serious accident if not certain death. 
This man receives a salary of $75.00 
per month for the performance of the 
simple but important duty. 

Many an accident might be pre¬ 
vented by watching one’s step. It is a 
true saying that it is “the first step 
that costs.” Why? Because many 
persons have been started on the road 
to ruin by carelessness in taking the 
first step. After the first step down¬ 
ward is taken it is much easier to take 
the second, third, and so on. The cost 
of the first step is difficult to estimate, 
because so many individual interests 
are involved. 

Is not that a good lesson for us all? 
How important it is that we watch 
our steps, especially when we are 
tempted to go to a wrong place or do 
a wrong thing- Don’t make a mis¬ 
step. Don’t take a hasty, thoughtless 
step. Don’t take a wrong step. Watch 
your step.— H. 

1352. The Lesson of the Lily. 

With our Master standing by, Lily, 
what wilt thou teach us? “I try not 
to be in a hurry. I have the whole 
summer in which to grow and I am to 
bloom but this once- Yet I do not 
allow myself to be idle because I have 
the whole season. I have no time to 
waste. I keep steadily at work every 
day, adding something to my size or 


strength. Then I toil contentedly, 
though sometimes the sun is very hot 
and there are frightful rainstorms. 
I know God wants me to be beautiful 
and the heat and the storm are neces¬ 
sary to bring out the color and to 
nourish my strength. With His care, 
I am confident and content.” 

“Yes, little flower; you are telling 
us the spirit in which you work. But 
what do yon do? By what means do 
you grow?” 

“Why, I just stay right here in this 
corner of the field, where the good 
Master planted me, and reach out into 
the ground for anything that will 
nourish me, while I keep my face up¬ 
turned for the shower and the sun¬ 
shine.” 

And the Master, smiling, greets our 
surprised, upturned faces and says: 
“That is all. Just apply these two 
ideas to your life. In the place in 
which God puts you, reach out and 
up for the food of the soul. Be con¬ 
tent to grow slowly and quietly. See 
to it that you keep steadily at it and 
you, too, will grow. If God cares for 
the flower of the grass, will He not 
much the more for you?”— Rev. F. 
W. Sweet. 

1353. What Pleases Pets. 

Love your pets and do not let them 
feel forgotten or neglected. After we 
have taught them to love us, we must 
be very good to them. A pet spaniel 
whose little mistress was sick for a 
long time began to be sick, too, and 
by and by they asked the doctor about 
it. He said, “Give it to somebody who 
can ‘mother’ it and cuddle it- The 
poor little thing is dying of lonesome¬ 
ness.” Talk to your canary. Say 
“Nice pussy!” whenever you pass the 
cat. Take pains to say at least “Good 
dog!” when Rover wags his tail at 
you. He likes that better than a 
bone any day. 



AN EFFICIENT 1 PROTECTOR 


329 


1354. Sunshine. 

Here’s a verse you can quote to 
teach the boys and girls to be cheer¬ 
ful. It is by J. B. Cook. 

Keep your face with sunshine lit, 
Laugh a little bit! 

Gloomy shadows oft will flit 
If you have wit and grit 
Just to laugh a little bit l 

1355 - An Efficient Protector. 

Geese are always thought to be very 
stupid creatures, but perhaps they are 
so because they never had a chance of 
going to school! 

There are some geese that have 
been taught to do things, however, 
and they do those things in a very 
clever way, so that makes me think 
that if every goose had the chance of 
going to school no one would call 
geese stupid any more. 

Just to show you how clever a goose 
can be, I will tell you a story of one 
that lived in France- Every Sunday, 
when an old blind woman wanted to 
go to church, the goose took hold of 
her dress in his beak and pulled her 
gently along the road to the door of 
the church. Then, when the old wo¬ 
man was inside, the goose spent the 
time in strolling about the churchyard. 
But when the church service was over 
the goose was always waiting at the 
door for her. 

Once a gentleman said to the old 
woman’s daughter: “Aren’t you afraid 
to let your mother come alone?” “O 
no, sir,” said the daughter; “we are 
not afraid, as the goose is with her.” 

I have known children not as kind 
or as wise as that goose. I am sure 
you will all make a new resolve this 
Children’s Day.— H. 

1356. Would You Like to Have 
Such Names? 

The following are some of the 
names which African mothers have 
given their children: Spoon, Saucepan, 
Hotel, Pumpkin, Gingerbeer, Ciga¬ 
rette, Shilling, Sixpence, Penny Coffee, 


Sweet, Pudding, Very Nice, Of¬ 
fice, Tomato, Fifteen, Vinegar, Sugar. 

1357- Do It Now. 

Once a boy was walking along the 
seashore when he saw a very beauti¬ 
ful shell. But he had his hands full 
just then and he said. “I’ll pick that 
up when I come back.” 

When he came back after awhile he 
could not find it. The waves had 
washed it out into the sea. 

Sometimes a boy or a girl says: 
“I’ll not do this kind act to-day; I’ll 
leave it until to-morrow.” 

But by to-morrow the chance of 
doing it may be gone. 

1358. Children’s Sayings. 

My little daughter, one dark, rainy 
day, came indoors with a wet, half- 
starved kitten, and on my remonstrat¬ 
ing with her to take it out at once, 
she became indignant and said, “You 
don’t remember, mother, when you was 
a little cold cat yourself-” 

“Well my little man,” said the kind 
old gentleman, “how old are you?” 

“Five,” answered the child. 

“And what are you going to be?” 

“Six,” was the quiet reply. 

One mother, recounting at great 
length the details of the illness of a 
little dog to her small girl, several 
times mentioned “the dog-doctor.” She 
was surprised, at the very end, by the 
question, “What sort of dog was the 
dog doctor?” 

1359. Dr. Jowett’s Use of Tin 

Whistles. 

When Dr. Jowett was in Newcastle 
he inaugurated a children’s service in 
connection with his church. At the 
opening service four boys slyly blew 
their tin whistles in the rear of the 
gallery- The youngsters were brought 
before the preacher in the vestry, 
where they expected a severe repri¬ 
mand. Much to their astonishment, 
Dr. Jowett asked, “Can’t you play bet¬ 
ter than that on tin whistles?” And 



33 ° 


THE INDIAN ON THE NICKEL 


before they could gather their wits 
together to know how to answer, he 
added, “I must ask Mrs. Jowett to 
teach you to play properly.” She un¬ 
dertook to teach them, and in a few 
weeks’ time these same lads gave a 
tin whistle quartette at the children’s 
service, Mrs. Jowett accompanying 
them on the piano. Thus they were 
won and used, and no better helpers 
could be found than these boys be¬ 
came. 

1360. To Tell to Children. 

Elephants sleep standing up. When 
in a herd, a certain number will al¬ 
ways stand watch while others sleep, 
for the big powerful beasts are timid 
and cautious at night and will not go 
to sleep ungarded. 

Bats sleep head downward, hapging 
by their hind claws. 

Birds, with few exceptions, sleep 
with their heads turned tailward over 
the back and the beak thrust beneath 
the wing. 

Storks, gulls and other long-legged 
birds sleep standing on one leg. 

Ducks sleep on open water- To 
avoid drifting ashore they keep pad¬ 
dling with one foot, thus making them 
move in a circle. 

Foxes and wolves sleep curled up, 
their noses and the soles of their feet 
close together and blanketed by their 
bushy tails. 

Lions, tiggers and cat animals 
stretch themselves out flat upon the 
side. Their muscles twitch and throb, 
indicating that they are light and rest¬ 
less sleepers. 

Owls, in addition to their eyelids, 
have screens that they draw sideways 
across their eyes to shut out the 
light, for they sleep in the daytime. 

1361. The Indian on the Nickel. 

Not many people know that the 
new five-cent piece bears the portrait 
of a real live Indian. It is the famous 
Sious Chief, Iron Trail. In foreign 


countries the faces of kings or queens 
are often placed on the money of the 
land. In the United States we have 
a picture of Lincoln on our new pen¬ 
nies, and McKinley and a number of 
other statesmen on our paper money, 
but Iron Trail is the only living man 
who is shown in this way. Of course 
the designer used his picture because 
his face is typical of all Indians. But 
the chief is very proud of his distinc¬ 
tion. When any one asks him for his 
picture he promptly gives them one of 
the new nickles. On the opposite side 
of these coins is an excellent represen¬ 
tation of the buffalo, which was so 
closely associated with the old life of 
the Indians of the plains. 

Pennies, nickels, dimes and dollars 
will be welcome in our Children’s 
Day offering.— H. 

1362. A Child’s Faith. 

Five sailors went to hear Dr. Dixon 
preach. A little girl nine years of age 
noticed them, and began to pray 
earnestly that, if they were not Chris¬ 
tians, they might be converted that 
night. When an invitation was given, 
one went forward; then one went out. 
She prayed that he might be brought 
back, and in a few minutes he re¬ 
turned; soon a second went forward; 
but three remained in their seats. 
Several men spoke to them, but they 
refused invitations. At last the eager 
little girl herself rose, went to them, 
and pleaded that thew would accept 
the Saviour. She had the joy of see¬ 
ing them all rise, go forward, and 
make a bold confession of Christ .—An 
incident that occurred at the Bible 
Institute of Los Angeles. 

1363. The Wrong Button. 

“Dear me,” said little Janet, “I 
buttoned just one button wrong, and 
now that makes all the rest wrong,” 
and she tugged and fretted as if the 
button was at fault for her trouble. 

“Patience, patience, my dear,” said 



RINGING TRUE 


33i 


mamma, coming to the rescue. “The 
next time look out for the first wrong 
button, then you will keep all the rest 
right.” And, added mamma, “look 
out for the first wrong deed of any 
kind; another and another is sure to 
follow.” 

Janet thought for a moment, then 
she remembered how one day, not long 
ago, she struck Baby Alice. That was 
the first wrong deed. Then she denied 
having done it. That was another. 
Then she was unhappy and cross all 
day because she had told a lie. What 
a long list of buttons fastened wrong 
just because one was wrong. 

1364. A Hungry Boy. 

You can brighten the faces of the 
little people by telling them the story 
of the hungry boy. Boys are said to 
be always hungry. This little story is 
by Clara J. Denton. 

I know a funny little boy. 

Who ate a Teddy bear— 

The whole of it—and did not give 
To any one a share. 

You think perhaps this made him sick 
So that he stayed in bed. 

Oh, no, because this Teddy bear 
Was made of gingerbread! 

1365. Ringing True. 

That Sunday school superintendent 
had the immediate and perfect atten¬ 
tion of old and young when he began 
to drop silver dollars on the table and 
asked the boys if the coins were worth 
anything. The first and second were 
all right, but the third was declared no 
good. They all said it did not ring 
true. Then he drove home the lesson, 
that while the coins all looked good, 
one was found to be bad when it was 
dropped. “Can you stand a bump?” 
Such was a question he put at them, 
and then he also insisted that every 
one would get some such test sooner or 
later. The character is not something 
on the outward side, mere appearance; 
it is a matter of the inward side, 
true worth. The older people present 


that Children’s Day found a lesson as 
well as the boys and girls. 

1366. How Do You Write Your 

Name? 

Boys have a fashion of putting their 
names on things. The ever-ready 
knife carves name or initials in all 
sorts of places. The pen or pencil 
or popular rubber stamp impresses it 
upon their books and other belong¬ 
ings. Even their skates write it in 
shining curves and flourishes on the 
ice, if they have sufficient skill to do 
it. 

Their names, like all others, are 
written in the hearts of their friends 
and acquaintances, too* The odd thing 
about it is that they can be written 
there in so many different ways. One 
boy may write his in rudeness, in sel¬ 
fishness, in ill-temper, in all sorts of 
unpleasant scrawls. Probably he 
would be much surprised if he could 
see what his name stands for in the 
hearts of those who know him. 

Another writes his name in letters 
of politness, of kindness, of good- 
natured readiness to do nice things for 
others; and he, too might be surprised 
if he could see the record. But it 
would be a much pleasanter kind of 
surprise than that the other boy would 
feel. It is worth while for you to be 
careful how you write your name in 
the hearts of others. 

1367. A Word to Boys. 

Many people seem to forget that 
character grows—that it is not some¬ 
thing to put on, ready-made, with man¬ 
hood or womanhood, but day by day, 
here a little and there a little, grows 
with the growth and strengthens with 
the strength, until good or bad, it be¬ 
comes almost a coat of mail. Look 
at a man of business—prompt, reli¬ 
able, conscientious, yet clear-headed 
and energetic. When do you suppose 
he developed all those admirable qual¬ 
ities? When he was a boy. The boy 



332 


HAD THE MEASLES 


that is late at breakfast, late at school, 
stands a poor chance to be a prompt 
man. The boy who neglects his duties, 
and then excuses himself by saying, 
“I forgot; I didn’t think,” will never 
be a reliable man. And the boy who 
finds pleasure in the sufferings of 
weaker things will never be a gentle¬ 
man. 

1368. One Astray. 

An American bishop related the fol¬ 
lowing; “A youth belonging to a 
Bible class thought fit to discontinue 
his attendance. The class assembled, 
but his place was empty, and the 
leader looked for the familiar face 
in vain. He could not be content to 
conduct the Bible reading as usual, 
ignorant as to the condition and where¬ 
abouts of the missing one. ‘Friends,’ 
said he, ‘read, sing, and pray; my 
work is to seek and find a stray sheep/ 
and he started off on the quest. The 
stray sheep is before you,” said the 
bishop to his hearers, “my teacher 
found me, and I could not resist his 
pleading. I could not continue to 
wander and stray while I was sought 
so tenderly.” 

1369. Had the Measles. 

A Massachusetts boy told the 
teacher that his sister had the measles. 
The teacher sent him home and told 
hirp to stay there until his sister got 
well. After he had skipped joyfully 
away another boy held up his hand 
and said, “Teacher, Jimmy Dolan’s 
sister what’s got the measles lives in 
California.” 

I wonder how many of the boys and 
girls in this Children’s Day audience 
think either of these boys were quite 
square. They were smart enough, 
surely, but hardly to be commended. 

1370. Why the Wolf Was Brave. 

“My father,” said a wolf to a fox, 
“was a real hero. He defeated over 
two hundred enemies; and this makes 


it all the more strange that he should 
at last be defeated by a single one.” 

“You forget,” said the fox, “that the 
two hundred enemies whom he de¬ 
feated were only sheep and asses; 
and the first time he attempted to 
seize a bull he was killed-” 

“It is always quite easy for the 
strong to crush the weak.”— Lessing. 

1371. Engine or Freight Car: 

Talk to Boys and Girls. 

The author of a recent book for 
boys, in which he is urging them to 
stick to school, asks whether they 
want to be engines or freight cars. 

The latter are things that just sit 
around until they are pulled or pushed 
here or there by some other force. 
They are only made to carry burdens 
for other people. They do not cost 
so very much or take a great while to 
make. The workmen that make them 
do not need to be especially skilled. 
When the cars are wrecked usually 
they are piled along side of the track 
and burned. 

On the other hand, the engine comes 
out of the shop filled with power and 
throbbing with energy that only waits 
to be directed. They always lead 
and pull or push. True they cost 
more than cars, and it takes longer to 
construct them. The workmen must 
be skilled men. Only the very best 
materials can be used in them. When 
they are wrecked they are carefully 
picked up and every part is saved 
to be used again. 

The parable is a good one. Not 
only the youths, but their parents 
should consider it. Will the boy or 
girl be one to be shoved here or 
there at another’s will? The tempta¬ 
tion to the boy is to take the short 
cut and get out into business life. But 
he is likely to become a burden- 
bearer, and nothing more. A little 
more time and expense now will make 
a leader of him. And the world needs 
leaders badly. 



THE WOLF WHO REPENTED 


333 


The railroads are clamoring for 
engines rather than cars, according to 
the newspapers— P. A. 

13-72. Resting Places: Your Sab¬ 
baths. 

“Lots of telegraph poles are grow¬ 
ing up,” said Willie. “They are just 
so far apart from each other, and 
every time I go from our house to 
yours, grandpa, I stop and rest at each 
pole.” 

“There are lots of Sundays in my 
life,” said grandpa, “and they are the 
same distance apart, and they are on 
my way to my father’s house. Every 
time I come to one I stop and rest, 
too.” 

Sundays are resting places; places 
to get a new start in the Christian 
life. Young people, put high value on 
your Sundays. “Keep your Sundays 
for the great things of the soul.”— H. 

1373. Why She was Happy. 

The small girl of the family was 
busy over the flower beds. She pulled 
the weeds and grass out carefully, 
so that not a flower root was disturbed. 
She dug and watered and trimmed, 
and all the while she hummed a happy 
little tune to herself. A passing nigh- 
bor paused, looked and listened for 
a moment, then said: 

“You must like your work, Bessie. 
You seem very happy over it.” 

Quickly the child looked up with a 
laugh. “I’m doing it for mother, and 
I’m always happy when I’m doing 
things for folks, aren’t you?” 

Her reply was the key that will 
unlock the door of happiness for any¬ 
one who will use it. Her question 
holds a challenge to the world of 
selfishness. It gives a lesson we all 
may learn, grown-ups and little folks, 
this Children’s Day.— H. 

1374. The Wolf Who Repented. 

A wolf who was dying expressed 
sorrow for his evil life, but added: 


“While it is true; I have some¬ 
times been cruel. I have not been so 
bad as others. I remember once see¬ 
ing a lamb that had strayed from the 
flock, but I did not devour it; and at 
another time I listened to the angry 
abuse of a number of sheep without 
punishing them.” 

“I can bear witness that all this is 
true,” said a fox, “for I remember 
distinctly the time. It was when you 
had that bone stuck in your throat 
for a week, so that you were too ill 
even to eat.” 

“Many thieves are honest when they 
are unable to steal.”— Lessing. 

I 375 * “Something Else Beautiful.” 

A little girl named Hilda and her 
mother stood one cold winter morn¬ 
ing looking out upon the landscape, 
in which everything was covered with 
an icy armor that sparkled with glit¬ 
tering beauty in the sunshine. 

“Oh, how beautiful!” exclaimed 
Hilda. 

“Yes,” answered her mother, “but 
it will be all gone before noon time.” 

The little girl was quiet for a 
moment as she gazed upon the fairy¬ 
like scene that lay stretched out before 
her. Then she looked up and said 
brightly, “Never mind, mother; 
there’ll be something else beautiful 
to-morrow.” 

What a charming thought was ut¬ 
tered by that little girl in those words! 
What a comfort it is to know that 
though some beautiful things may pass 
away, God will send others just as 
beautiful to take their place. This 
is Children’s Day and we have the 
beautiful flowers all about us in 
greatest profusion. But “God hath 
made every thing beautiful in his time,” 
and every season of the year has its 
beauties. Yes, though some beautiful 
things may pass away, God will send 
others just as beautiful to take their 
place. Every time in life, too, has its 
beauties and its joys. There is beauti- 



334 


THE MISSING WORD 


ful childhood, and beautiful youth, and 
beautiful old age. Beauty and joy are 
two of God’s richest gifts.— H. 

1376. Not Taking Chances. 

“Don’t be afraid,” said a mother 
to her little boy at a museum, “the lion 
is stuffed.” “P’raps he is,” responded 
the lad;- “but he might find room 
for a little boy like me!” 

1377. The Boy Escapes. 

Edwin, aged four, owned a pic¬ 
ture book in which a fierce-looking 
cow was running after a small boy. 
He looked at it a long time; then, 
carefully closing the book, he laid it 
away. A few days later he got the 
book again and found the picture. 
Bringing his chubby fist down on the 
cow, he exclaimed in a tone of tri¬ 
umph; “Shef ain’t caught him yet!” 

1378. The Missing Word. 

Little Mary was telling what she 
thought was an exciting story about 
a dream. She stuttered in her effort, 
gulped, and paused hoplessly without 
completing the sentence. “Why, child, 
what is the matter ?” her mother asked. 
The little girl smiled ruefully, and 
replied, “I swallowed a word.” 

1379. A Wrinkle Swallower. 

Little Irene, aged three years, sat 
watching her mother ironing, and was 
still for a long time. Then she re¬ 
marked : “Mother, where do all the 
wrinkles go? Does the iron swallow 
them?” 

1380. A Big Brother’s Defence. 

“Johnny,” asked a nervous neighbor, 
“what makes the baby at your house 
cry so much ?” 

“It doesn’t cry so very much,” was 
the big brother’s indignant answer, 
“and anyway, if your teeth was all 
out and your hair was all off and 
your legs was so weak and wobbly 


that you couldn’t stand on them, 
you’d feel like crying yourself.” 

1381. Disappointed. 

A little girl who had mastered her 
catechism confessed herself disap¬ 
pointed. “Because,” she said, “though 
I obey the Fifth Commandment and 
honor my papa and mama, yet my 
days are not a bit longer in the land, 
because I am put to bed at seven 
o’clock.” 

She was a funny little girl and had 
a funny idea of the fifth command¬ 
ment. But God does reward those 
who keep it.— H. 

1382. The Cross Squirrel. 

Once there was a squirrel that did 
not like his home, and he used to 
scold and find fault with everything. 
His papa squirrel had long, gray 
whiskers, and so was wise—besides 
which he could shake his whiskers 
quickly. 

“My dear, as you do not like your 
home, there are three sensible things 
you could do: 

“Leave it, or change it, or suit 
yourself to it. Any one of these 
would help you in your trouble.” 

“Oh, I do not want to do any of 
those; I had rather sit on a branch 
of a tree and scold.” 

“Well,” said the papa squirrel, “if 
you must cfo that, whenever you want 
to scold, just go out on a branch and 
scold away at someone you do not 
know.” 

The little squirrel blushed so much 
that he became a red squirrel, and 
you will notice to this day red 
squirrels do just that thing. 

Grey squirrels are bigger and hand¬ 
somer and stronger and more valu¬ 
able than red squirrels. Look out 
young friends, that you do not turn 
to red squirrels. Would it not be 
an awful thing if all boys and girls 
were to turn into red squirrels when 



THE SIN OF IGNORANCE 


335 


they get cross! Look out! Keep 
sweet.— H. 

1383. A Peacemaker. 

A litle girl said to her mother one 
evening: 

“I was a peacemaker to-day.” 

“How was that?” said her mother. 

“I knew something that I didn’t 
tell,” was the reply. 

There are many boys and girls who 
could be peacemakers every day, if, 
like this little girl, they wouldn’t tell 
some of the things they know about 
others. Repeating a bit of evil gossip 
about somebody else has led to many 
a quarrel and sad misunderstandings 
have often arisen from some careless 
remark which has been told by one to 
another. 

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peace¬ 
makers,” and surely it is worth while 
trying to be one of those on whom 
our Saviour pronounced His blessing. 

Next time that we hear anything un¬ 
kind about another, let us be careful 
not to repeat it, and in this way we 
may show ourselves peacemakers. 

1384. Why a Ship is a “She.” 

The word “ship” is masculine in 
French, Italian, Spanish and Portu¬ 
guese and posseses no sex in Teutonic 
and Scandinavian. Perhaps it would 
not be an error to trace the custom 
of feminizing ships back to the Greeks, 
who called them by feminine names, 
probably out of deference to Athene, 
goddess of the sea. But the English 
speaking sailor assigns no such 
reasons. The ship to him is always 
a lady, even though she be a man-of- 
war. She possesses a waist, collars, 
stay, lace, bonnets, ties, ribbons, chains, 
watches and dozens of other distinctly 
feminine attributes. 

Life is a sea. We are the ships. 
Let us go straight to the harbor. 
The end of the voyage is heaven if we 
do.— H. 


1385. A Funny Bone. 

“Father,” said the little daughter, 
“I feel it in my bones that you are 
going to buy me a new hat for Chil¬ 
dren’s Day.” 

“Which bone, darling?” 

“I’m not sure, but I think its in my 
wish-bone.” 

1386. The Sin of Ignorance. 

Sir Robert Ball, the famous English 
astromoner, whose death ocurred some 
time ago, used to tell a little story of 
an experience he had when he was at 
the Dunsink Observatory. A farmer 
came to him one day, and asked if 
he might look at the moon through 
the telescope. 

“Surely you can,” said Ball. “Come 
around to-night, and I will be very 
happy to let you see it through the 
telescope.” 

“Can’t I see it now?” asked the 
farmer, surprised. 

“I’m sorry that you cannot,” an¬ 
swered the astronomer. “You will 
have to wait until to-night.” 

“Huh!” was the contemptuous re¬ 
ply. “Then your old telescope is not 
so great a thing as they say. I can 
see the moon at night without it.” 

I suppose it is not right to think 
of ignorance as always a sin. But, 
young people, it is a great thing to 
know much both of things tem¬ 
poral and of things eternal— H. 

1387. A Small Beginning. 

One day a little English girl was 
walking along a street in London, on 
her way to school. She carried her 
books and a little bouquet for her 
teacher. A poor little boy, leaning on 
crutches, said to her: “Say, gimme a 
flower ?” 

The kind-hearted little girl picked 
out a rose and gave it to him. Four 
or five other children gathered around 
her, each begging for a flower; and 
one by one she gave them all away, 
and had no bouquet for her teacher. 




336 


A DANDELION’S WAY 


The next day she took two bouquets, 
one for the teacher and one for the 
street children, and day after day she 
carried flowers until at last she car¬ 
ried a basket especially for the poor 
children. 

This was the beginning of the 
Flower Mission. The news spread 
and the idea was taken up all over 
London, and then some one in Boston 
began it, and then in New York, and 
now thousands of flowers are given 
away all over the country. So all this 
beautiful work started with one kind- 
hearted little girl. 

We have flowers all about us to¬ 
day. Sometimes Children’s Day is 
called Flower Sunday. Let us learn 
lessons, life lessons from the flowers 
to-day.— H. 

1388. Flower Sunday. 

Children’s Day is often called 
Flower Sunday. So I am going to tell 
you the legend of a little flower we 
call Ragged Sailor. 

Once upon a time there was a 
sailor commonly called the ragged 
sailor. He sailed in the Discoverer. 

The sailors came upon an island 
undiscovered. The ragged sailor went 
to look for food. He found a little 
dark blue flower. 

When they sailed for home they 
took with them large bunches of the 
flowers to the king and queen. The 
queen said it. should be called after 
its discoverer, the “ragged sailor.” 
So it comes about that we have the 
ragged sailor with us to-day. 

1389. An Accidental Discovery. 

Blotting paper was discovered purely 
by accident. Some ordinary paper was 
being made one day at a mill in Berk¬ 
shire, England, when a careless woman 
forgot to put in the sizing material. 
The whole of the paper made was 
regarded as useless. The proprieter 
of the mill desired to write a note 
shortly afterwards and he took a piece 


of this waste paper, thinking it was 
good enough for the purpose. To his 
intense annoyance the ink spread all 
over the paper. Suddenly there flashed 
over his mind the thought that this 
paper would do instead of sand for 
drying ink, and he at once advertised 
his waste paper as “blotting.” 

There was such a big demand that 
the mill ceased to make ordinary paper, 
and was soon occupied in making 
blotting paper only, the use of which 
soon spread to all countries. 

A great many good things have been 
found out by accident. But, young 
friends, it does not pay us to trust 
to accident. We must plan for and 
purpose the advances we are to make 
in life. That may be one useful lesson 
we may learn on this Children’s Day. 
—H. 

1390. The Harm of Doing Nothing. 

“Sam, dear,” asked Mrs. Prouty, 

who had been away from home the 
greater part of July and August, 
“what is the matter with the garden?” 

“I don’t know,” answered Sam 
humbly. “I haven’t done anything to 
it.” Don’t be satisfied, young friends, 
just to do nothing.— H. 

1391. A Dandelion’s Way. 

A dandelion loves to have her own 
way, just as you and I do. She loves 
to grow up tall, with a fine long 
stem, nodding and shaking her head 
and swaying merrily in the wind and 
sunshine. When the storm comes 
beating she draws her green water¬ 
proof cloak up over her head, and 
while the thrush sings so cheerfully, 
she makes merry with the raindrops— 
gay little dandelion! 

But the dandelion cannot always 
have her own way, sweet as it is, for 
there is the gardener who comes cut¬ 
ting her down cruelly with the lawn 
mower again and again and again. 

How discouraging all this is when 
one feels herself made to live on a 



WHAT CHILDREN SAY 


337 


long stem with such jocund friends 
as the rain, the wind, and the sunshine I 
Cut the dandelion is not to be dis¬ 
couraged, and in a wise little brown 
heart she considers how she may best 
adapt herself to such adverse circum¬ 
stances as gardeners and lawn mowers. 

The next day she comes up as light 
and friendly as ever, only with a 
shorter stem. Again she is cut down, 
and again she springs up bravely with 
a still shorter stem. 

At last she is trampled upon and 
bruised and crushed under foot to the 
earth, but the brightness and gladness 
and beauty are still there in the faith¬ 
ful brown heart, and, gazing stead¬ 
fastly into heaven, she sends up one 
trustful little bud without any stem 
at all. 

Her sister dandelions do the same, 
and they bloom and bloom and bloom 
until the green lawn looks as if it 
were buttoned down all over with 
pieces of brightest gold. 

This is a true story; but if you 
don’t believe it, you may ask the 
dandelion. 

There are not a few children who 
think they have no chance and that 
things go hard with them. You may 
think that you are held back by 
circumstances or by things that hap¬ 
pen ; but, never mind, make the best of 
your opportunities. Be beautiful, and 
kind and thoughtful and helpful any¬ 
way. This is a good lesson you may 
learn this Children’s Day from the 
little yellow dandelion.— H. 

1392. How the Sea Birds Get 
Drink. 

“When I was a boy,” said an old 
sailor, “it was always a matter of 
wonder what birds, a thousand miles 
out to sea, did for drink, when they 
were thirsty.” 

“One day a squall answered that 
question for me. It was a hot and 
glittering day in the topics, and in the 
clear sky overhead a black raincloud 
22 


appeared all of a sudden. Then out of 
an empty space, over a hundred sea 
birds came darting from every direc¬ 
tion. They got under the raincloud, 
and waited there for about ten minutes 
circling round and round and when 
the rain began to fall they drank their 
fill. In the tropics, where the great 
sea birds sail thousands of miles away 
from shore, they get their drinking 
water in that way. They smell out 
a storm a long way off, they travel 
a hundred miles maybe to get under 
it, and they swallow enough raindrops 
to keep them going.” 

Boys and girls, and older people 
too, have spiritual thirst. Christ can 
satisfy that thirst. He says, “Come 
unto me and drink.”— H. 

1393* Always Learning. 

A boy of seven protested earnestly 
after his vacation against being sent 
back to school. “What!” said his 
father, “don’t you want to go to 
school ?” 

“Yes, but not that school.” 

“And why not to that one?” 

“Because they want to teach me a 
lot of things that I don’t know any¬ 
thing about.” 

Was not he a strange boy? Learn. 
Let us be always learning. No boy 
or girl can learn too much,—not 
too much about the things that are 
good and true.— H. 

1394. What Children Say. 

For many years I have been listen¬ 
ing to children, and I find among my 
material some queer and interesting 
sayings which I have heard from their 
lips. My boy George, now nearly six 
years old, during this past three years 
has been the originator of the follow¬ 
ing: 

I told him that a cat had caught 
some of our chickens in the night, and 
suggested that we get a cat-trap. 
“What shall we bait it with ?” I asked. 
He answered, “Cat-fish.” 



338 


A BOY IN BLOSSOM 


I told him the fable of the lion 
caught in the net, who asked the 
mouse to gnaw the knots and set him 
free. When I had finished, he asked, 
“What did the man say when he found 
his net spoiled?” 

When we were planning a visit to 
Central Park, he asked whether he 
would see eagles, and whether all of 
them would be gold. “What makes 
you think eagles are gold?” I asked, 
and he answered, “All the eagles I 
ever saw were gold.” He had only 
seen the eagles on flag-poles. 

I had remonstrated with him for 
being bad, and said, “O George, you 
don’t love me!” “Yes, I do,” he said; 
“even when I don’t love you, I love 
you.” 

He came home one day with wet 
feet, although he had on his rubber 
boots. When his mother asked him if 

the other boys got their feet wet, he 
said, “Oh, no; they didn’t have rubber 
boots; they kept out of the water.” 

Dressing is very irksome to him, 
and we were not surprised when he 
remarked one morning, “I wish you 
could push a button and your clothes 
would be on.” 

Roy, seven years old, awoke one 
night in October, just after the family 
had moved into their new house, called 
his mother, and asked, “Do you sup¬ 
pose Santa Claus knows where we 
have moved to ?”—William D. Mur¬ 
ray • 

* 395 - A Boy with Two Faces. 

I’ve heard about the queerest boy, 

A boy that has two faces; 

One face is round and full of joy. 

As out of. doors he races. 

But when his mother calls him in 
He changes to the other, 

And that is long and sour and thin— 
I’m sorry for his mother. 

1396. A Boy in Blossom. 

“O grandpa,” said Charlie, “what 
lots of apples there are going to be 
this year! See how white the trees 
are with blossoms.” 

“Yes,” said grandpa; “if the trees 


keep their promises there will be 
plenty of apples. But if they are like 
some boys I know, there may not be 
any.” 

“What do you mean by keeping 
their promises?” asked Charlie* 

“Why,”said grandpa, “blossoms are 
only the trees’ promises, just as the 
promises little boys make sometimes 
are only the blossoms. Sometimes the 
frost nips these blossoms, both on the 
trees and in the boy, and they never 
bear any fruit.” 

“I see,” said Charlie. “Then you 
think when I promise to be a better 
boy, I am only in blossom? But I 
will try to show you, grandpa, that 
the frost cannot nip my blossoms. 
1 am going to bear fruit.” 

“I hope you will,” said grandpa, 
delighted with his answer. 

Yes, boys and girls, you are all 
blossoms. Here in God’s house, on 
this blessed Children’s Day, resolve, 
resolve in God’s strength that you 
will bear fruit.— H. 

1397. God’s Service Flag. 

It was a beautiful thought of the 
little child when, seeing the eve¬ 
ning star glowing out brightly on the 
dark blue sky, she exclaimed: “There, 
God has hung out his service flag, and 
there’s only one star on it.” Our 
minds are turned to think of the One 
who for our salvation “endured the 
cross, despising the shame.” 

1398. Helping the Minister. 

“One thing helped me very much 
while I was preaching to-day,” said 
a clergyman. 

“What was that?” inquired a friend. 

“It was the attention of a little 
girl, who kept her eyes fixed on me 
and seemed to hear and understand 
every word I said. She was a great 
help to me.” 

Think of that, little ones, and when 
you go to church fix your eyes on 
the minister and try to understand 



A WONDERFUL TREE 


339 


what he says, for he is speaking to 
you as well as to grown-up people. 
He is telling about the Lord Jesus, 
who said, “Suffer little children to 
come unto me.” 

1399. Children’s Sayings, with Les¬ 

sons. 

They were holding midyear examin¬ 
ations in one of the public schools. 
The subject was geography. One of 
the questions was, “What is the equa¬ 
tor ?” 

“The equator,” read the answer of 
a nine-year-old boy, “is a managerie 
lion running around the center of the 
earth.” 

A little girl was taking her bath 
one chilly morning when her mother 
turned on the cold water faucet. She 
jumped up quickly, saying indignantly: 

“Don’t do that, mama, Look at me 
—I’m all ‘duck skin!’ ” 

“To-morrow,” announced five-year- 
old Sidney proudly to his kindergarten 
teacher, “is my birthday,” 

“Why,” returned she, “it is mine, 
too.” 

The boy’s face clouded with perplex¬ 
ity; and, after a brief silence, he 
exclaimed. “How did you get so much 
bigger’n me?” 

Children have philosophy, and there 
are valuable lessons that can be drawn 
from every example of their thoughts 
we can gather.— H. 

1400. God is Near. 

Once upon a time there was a 
young fish that had heard other fishes 
talking about the sea. One day it 
thought, “I will go and find the sea.’’ 
So it set forth to find the sea. It 
searched for a long time, but could 
not find it. Then it met another fish, 
and asked, “Can you tell me where I 
may find the sea ?” And the fish 
said: “No, I have often wished to see 
it, for I have heard much about it, 
but I do not know where to look.” 
The young fish met another fish, an 


old and wise fish, and asked, “Can 
you tell me where I may find the 
sea?” And the old fish said, “Why, 
this is the sea; you are swimming in 
the sea; you have been in it all the 
time. So do we look for God, think¬ 
ing that He is far from us and 
difficult to find, when “in him we live 
and move and have our being.” God 
is all around us, so near us that He 
hears our tiniest thought. 

1401. A Wonderful Tree. 

In far off Persia grows a shrub 
which is called the Sorrowful Tree. 
Another name for this tree is the 
Night Jasmine or the Sad Tree. The 
reason why it is called the Sad or 
Sorrow Tree is because it blooms only 
at night. 

When the first star appears in the 
sky the first bud opens on the wonder¬ 
ful tree. As the evening advances, 
the buds open more rapidly until the 
tree is covered with the delicate bloom, 
and it appears like one vast white 
flower. The bloom is fragrant, and 
the odor is like the perfume of the 
evening primrose. As the stars be¬ 
gin to grow dim and the dawn ap¬ 
proaches, the flowers begin to fade, 
and by the time the sun has risen, not 
a bloom can be found on the tree. 

During the hours of daylight the 
tree appears to be withering, as if 
it had been injured in some manner; 
but in reality it is simply regaining 
its strength in order to put forth new 
blossoms on the following night. 

This tree is held in high esteem 
by the natives of the country where 
it grows, and is looked upon as a 
curiosity by florists throughout the 
world. When cut down these trees 
send up sprouts from the roots that 
will mature into a flowering tree in a 
very short time. 

We do not wish any of our children 
to be sad or sorrowful. But is it 
not a wonderful thing to be able to 
bloom and shed perfume in the night 



340 THE SERMON THE SUNFLOWER PREACHES 


—when it is dark and things do not 
go as we wish?— H. 

1402. About Habit. 

Various kinds of fishes came to¬ 
gether and held a convention. There 
were sharks, catfish, bass, eels, mack¬ 
erels, flounders and almost every kind 
that you could name. At the opening 
of the meeting a shark presided and 
made a speech. He said that it would 
be nice to invite the little crabs, to 
which all agreed. So on one Sabbath 
afternoon all the fish came. They 
walked straight. The little crabs came 
walking crooked and wabbling, some¬ 
times walking sideways and backwards. 
The shark said the first thing to do 
was to teach the little crabs how to 
walk straight. The other fish took 
the entire afternoon to teach them 
how to walk. Then they went home- 
They met again on the next Sabbath 
afternoon, but the little crabs came 
walking as crooked as ever. So they 
spent the entire afternoon teaching 
them how to walk, then all the fish 
went home. On the third Sabbath 
afternoon as the little crabs came to 
the convention the little crabs walked 
just as crooked as ever. The other 
fish began to get discouraged. Then 
a shark made a speech. He said it 
was no use trying to teach the little 
crabs how to walk, for their fathers 
and mothers didn’t walk straight at 
home. What could you expect of 
them? 

The home must help in the teaching 
given in the Bible school. The Bible 
school is not simply a place for little 
folks, but for fathers and mothers, 
grandfathers and grandmothers. 

The lesson of this story, or one of 
the lessons, is about habit. Boys and 
girls should grow up to be noble men 
and women. We begin to form habits 
early in life. We should try to form 
correct habits that will be a help to 
us in after life. We all imitate, but 


we should aim to imitate the virtues 
instead of the faults of others. 

1403. The Sermon the Sunflower 
Preaches. 

I want to tell you about a great 
sermon that is preached to me every 
morning. The preacher is a flower 
that grows in my garden and the ser¬ 
mon is its life. It is not a fine flower 
either—the kind that you find growing 
in beautiful gardens and parks, in 
company with tulips and dahlias and 
roses, but it is a humble plant that is 
content to grow in out of the way 
places and in forgotten corners. 

A little while ago I planted some of 
the seeds of this flower and they are 
blooming now. When I go out in the 
early morning every one of the blos¬ 
soms are facing the sun that is just 
peeping through the trees of the or¬ 
chard. At noon they have lifted up 
their heads and are looking straight 
up into the face of the sun. At eve¬ 
ning I find them turned to the west 
as though eager to catch the last rays 
of the setting sun. During all the 
days of their youth they follow thus 
the sun in his course across the 
heavens. At last, grown large and 
heavy with seed, they can no longer 
turn as of old. Then for the last 
time they turn from giving their fare¬ 
well kiss, back to the East, to stand 
and greet their Lord on his return. 
They seem to say, “If we cannot 
longer follow him and can gain but 
one greeting in the day, let it be a 
greeting of the morning, a greeting of 
joy, when our Lord comes forth in all 
his strength to run his course-” 

How many boys and girls know the 
name of my preacher, and how many 
have ever heard the sermon? The 
preacher is the familiar sunflower, the 
sun-seeker, and we call it that on ac¬ 
count of its habit of keeping its face 
toward the face of the sun. 

The lesson that I learn from this 
roadside flower is this: if we seek 



THE GRUMBLE MAN 


34i 


the face of God earnestly as this 
flower seeks the face of the sun, God 
will bless us and help us to grow 
strong and beautiful. He says, “If my 
people shall humble themselves, and 
pray, and seek my face, and turn from 
their wicked ways; then will I hear 
them from heaven, and will forgive 
their sins.” So keep your faces turned 
toward God, in the morning, and at 
noon, and at evening. Seek him as 
earnestly as the sunflower seeks the 
sun and God will bless you.— Rev. 
A. J. Cohee. 

1404. The Grumble Man. 

Now, my little friends, I have 
a new Children’s Day story for you. 
I wonder if you ever heard it, or 
heard anything like it. It is the story 
of the Grumble Man. 

“I wonder how he ever got into 
this house. I am sure the front door 
was locked. Yes, and the windows 
shut, but he got in somehow!” 

“Who, mother?” piped up May, as 
she lay on the lounge complaining. 
“Who got into our house? Did he 
steal anything? Where is he?” 

“Yes, child,” replied mother, look¬ 
ing grave- “He stole—let me see. 
Yes, his name was Mr. Grumble: he 
came to the face of my little girl and 
stole away the pretty smiles, and put 
deep furrows in her forehead, drew 
lines across her mouth and made her 
lips pout. He changed the expression 
of her face so that no one, to look at 
her, would recognize her as my little 
girl, who usually has such a happy 
face.” 

“Oh, mother, you are making fun of 
me!” cried May, and the tears began 
to fall in earnest* 

“Dear me! Now we will have rivers, 
too, if we don’t look out; run quickly 
and open the door, May, so that the 
horrid fellow can get out.” 

May ran to the door and opened 
it, and a nice, soft breeze blew in her 
face and tossed her pretty hair; and 


she came back laughing, and said: “I 
chased him out, mother, and he shall 
never get into this house again, if I 
can help it.”— H. 

1405. Making Faces. 

Every day as we walk along 1 the 
street we meet many people and look 
into many faces. Some of these faces 
are hard and unpleasant, others are 
pleasant and beautiful. At one time, 
not many years ago, each of these 
faces had the privilege of expressing 
kindness and beauty. We know that 
in ten years from now, as to-day, we 
shall see hard, cruel faces as well as 
noble and kind ones. These faces are 
going to be made by the boys and 
girls of to-day. 

As the artist makes his picture 
line by line, so are we just as surely 
making faces. We can see the artist 
at work because he works on the out¬ 
side of his picture. We cannot see 
our friends or ourselves at work be¬ 
cause it is all done on the inside. The 
artist works with a brush, but we 
work with thoughts, words and deeds. 
^Whenever we are tempted to say 
an unkind word or do an unkind deed 
to hurt somebody else, then we our¬ 
selves receive the greater harm. In 
time they may forget our cruelty, but 
it is built into our lives and finds its 
way to our faces, where it is seen by 
the world. 

In the theater men paint their faces 
to fit the parts they play. If they are 
to represent a wicked man they make 
their faces look wicked. In life what¬ 
ever part we play our faces grow to 
look the part. We should all desire to 
have beautiful faces, which stand for 
character. When the artist paints a 
picture he has a model to follow; if 
the model is ugly he paints an ugly 
picture, and if the model be beautiful 
he paints a beautiful picture. 

When we say that a boy or a girl 
may be a Christian we mean that they 
may take for their lives the most 



34^ 


A CLEVER elephant 


beautiful model. We always think of 
Jesus as having a beautiful face be¬ 
cause his life was beautiful. If we 
follow his life and teaching we cannot 
have hard, cruel faces for the world 
to see. God meant all faces to be 
kind and noble, and therefore he has 
given us his Son as our life model. 

We must always remember that 
what the poet says is true for us: 

“Beautiful thoughts make a beautiful life, 
And a beautiful life makes a beautiful 
face.” 

— Rev. Chester J. Armstrong. 

1406. Beginning and Preventing 
Quarrels. 

I have two Children’s Day stories 
to tell you. They are funny stories, 
but they teach real serious lessons, 
about how quarrels begin and how they 
can be prevented. The first story is 
an illustration of most quarrels among 
little people or big. 

Ina came in from the country on 
her fifth birthday, to visit her Cousin 
May. At night they were put to bed 
early. An hour passed, when heart¬ 
breaking sobs were heard from the 
children’s room. 

“What is the matter, children?” 
asked May’s mother, entering the dark 
room. 

From under the bedclothes Ina 
sobbed out, “May won’t give me any 
of her peanuts.” 

“But May has no peanuts,” replied 
her aunt. 

“I know that,” sobbed Ina, “but she 
said if she did have peanuts, she 
wouldn’t give me any.” 

There is an old saying: “It takes 
two to make a quarrel. Here is an 
illustration of that. 

Two boys who lived near together 
were such good friends that they 
never quarreled. The other boys tried 
to persuade them to do so. “But we 
cannot,” they replied, “we do not 
know how.” “Very well,” said one 
boy, “we will show you how. I’ll lay 
this stone between you, and you (turn¬ 


ing to one boy) must say it is yours. 
Then you (turning to the other) will 
declare it is yours. Now begin 1 ” 

“This is my stone,” said the first 
boy. 

“No, it is mine,” said the other, 
mildly. 

“Very well, then,” replied the first 
boy, “you may have it.” 

It always takes two to make a 
quarrel.— H . 

1407. Making God Hear. 

A very little girl said one day to 
her father: “Papa, I have something 
I want to tell God. I want you to 
say it to Him for me.” 

“Why can’t you tell Him yourself, 
little one?” said the father. 

“Because I have such a little voice 
that I don’t think I can make Him 
hear away up in heaven; but you 
have such a big, loud voice that He 
will be sure to hear you.” 

Then the father said: “God will 
hear a little child’s prayer if it has a 
little weak voice, jf it whispers, or if 
it only thinks the wish and does not 
say it in any words. If all the angels 
in heaven are singing, and God listens 
to that music, he will hear at the 
same time the prayer that the little 
child speaks in a low voice, or whis¬ 
pers, or even thinks.” 

No matter how weak your little 
voice is, God will hear your prayers 
up in heaven. 

I hope my little friends here this 
Children’s Day all believe in prayer, 
that you all do pray, and that you 
will be sure that God always hears. 
No matter how weak your little voice 
is, or how timid your faith, God 
always hears your prayers up in 
heaven. He hears to answer in the 
very best way, too.— H. 

1408. A Clever Elephant. 

A gentleman who lived in India for 
many years tells an interesting story 



LESSONS FROM THE LILIES 


343 


of the cleverness of an elephant which 
he owned. 

This gentleman had two small sons, 
to whom the elephant took a great 
fancy. So devoted was this elephant 
that the father felt perfectly safe in 
leaving his little boys in its care. 

One day the elephant and the two 
boys went off on a tramp together. 
They remained away so long, however, 
that the father became anxious, and 
finally went to look for them. After 
searching for some time he came to 
the river bank, and there a funny 
sight met his eyes. 

The great elephant was standing 
knee-deep in the mud, with a happy 
small boy squatting on either side of 
him, and all three were fishing just 
as hard as they could. The boys held 
their rods in their hands, and their 
companion held his with his trunk. 
By and by the elephant’s line gave a 
flop, and the boys crowded up to see 
whether ft really meant that he had 
caught a fish, he had and while the 
big brute watched them solemnly, they 
pulled out the line, detached the fish, 
and then, putting on another worm, 
gravely handed the rod back to its 
owner. 

Do you know, there is a good deal 
in the Bible about fishing? There is 
something, too, about fishing for men. 
A good many of Christ’s apostles were 
fishermen. Boys and girls can learn to 
“Take souls alive”—to do the noblest 
fishing in the world.— H. 

1409. Lessons From the Lilies. 

“Consider the lilies.” They can 
teach us many things. Consider their 
growth. Consider their beauty. Con¬ 
sider their unselfishness. They are 
clothed with beauty. They grow 
without anxiety. They never fret be¬ 
cause of heat, drouth, rain or cold. 
God takes care of lilies. They do not 
grow by chance. These are all lessons 
from the lilies. But there is a special 
lesson, sometimes overlooked, we ought 


to learn. “Consider the lilies of the 
field, how they grow-” Yes, that is 
it, how they grow. 

A vistor to Morningside Heights, 
New York City, casts an admiring 
glance upward to the “Cathedral of 
St. John the Divine,” now rising 
slowly but surely to its magnificent 
completion. But to simple admira¬ 
tion would surely succeed a wonder 
beyond power of expression were the 
beholder as he stands gazing, to see the 
sublime structure, wall and arch and 
dome and tower, going higher and 
higher all of their own undirected and 
unaided accord—no architect, super¬ 
intendent or workmen in sight; no 
scaffolding, and not only no derrick 
with its long sweeping arm stretched 
out to lift huge blocks and beams, but 
no beams or blocks in sight to lift. 

Yet how, again, must both admira¬ 
tion and wonder mount to almost in¬ 
credulous amazement were the already 
rapt beholder to be assured that all 
that the architect had done was to bury 
his plans and specifications at founda¬ 
tion depths, having first imparted to 
them the power to do as they would 
like with the earthly material around 
them; to change that formless ma¬ 
terial into bronze, marble, steel or 
wood; to give to each product thus 
transformed its own fit and size and 
shape; to lift each to its own proper 
place; and, to crown all, power to 
drop from turret-top and pinnacle fully 
formed and safely folded plans and 
specifications for other like and alike 
self-erecting cathedrals. 

In such case, supposing it to exist, 
will not this wondering beholder feel 
himself constrained to pause awhile 
and very thoughtfully to “consider” 
this building—“how it grows I” 

Lilies grow. Cathedrals do not. 
Oaks grow. Church buildings do not. 
How wonderful the power of God! 
The lilies grow. “They toil not, 
neither do they spin.” They just 
grow. They grow the way in which 




344 


GET A GOOD READY 


God intended they should. No wonder 
when Christ wanted us to think of 
God’s power and providence He said, 
“Consider the lilies, how they grow.” 
— H. 

1410. Lost Art. 

**I said the strangest, strangest things 
Before I learned to talk, 

And wore the longest, longest clothes 
Before I learned to walk.” 

I think I hear some of the tiniest 
tots here to-day speaking like this. 
One of the purposes of Children’s 
Day is to have us listen to what 
children say— H. 

1411. Children’s Philosophy, with 

Lessons. 

When Bobbie went to his grand¬ 
mother he was much interested in 
whatever went on in the kitchen. One 
day she said to him: “I’m going to 
make you a nice little pie in a saucer, 
Bobbie, all for yourself. Don’t you 
think I’m pretty good to take so much 
trouble?” 

Bobbie thought about it. “Grand¬ 
ma,” he said at length, “Mother told 
me not to be a bother, and if it’s goin’ 
to be any trouble, you can just as well 
make my pie reg’lar size.” 

Look out! little people; don’t be 
selfish. 

Mary was seven, and she didn’t 
want to take her music lesson. “Why, 
Mary, don’t you like your music?” 
asked her mother anxiously. 


“No,” sobbed the little girl, “I 
hate those little black things sittin’ 
on the fence!” 

Don’t be scared by little black things 
sitting on the fence, or away from any 
duty. 

Little Doris could not count beyond 
four. One day, when she was show¬ 
ing me five berries that she had picked, 
I asked, “How many have you, 
Doris?” Her brows puckered; then, 
dimpling with smiles ,she answered: 
“Wait till I eat one; then I will tell 
you!” 

Learn. Learn all you can. Learn 
to count, and then you will not need 
such a strategy to keep you from 
showing ignorance. But Doris will 
learn. Any girl as smart as that can 
learn, we are sure.— H. 

1412. The Goose That Was Only 
a Goose. 

A goose, proud of her white 
feathers, pretended that she was a 
swan. She left her own relations 
and swam alone around the pond, try¬ 
ing to bend and stretch her neck like 
a swan’s. 

But it was all of no use, her neck 
was too short and stiff, and after all 
her trouble nobody thought she was 
a swan, and she only succeeded in 
appearing a more silly and ridiculous 
goose. 

“It is quite useless trying to deceive 
people by appearing what we are not.” 
— Lessing. 


XXL COMMENCEMENT DAY 

(Usually About the Middle of June.) 


1413. Get a Good Ready. 

An old Greek officer counselled the 
generals on the eve of an engagement, 
“The secret of victory is in getting a 
good ready.” It was in line with this 
when General Foch said: “Battles 


are won the day before-” Did not 
Wellington say that Waterloo was won 
at Eton? 

The “day-before” preparation is 
just what our schools and colleges give. 
—H. 



TO THE GRADUATE 


345 


1414. Christian Education. 

Victor Cousins, in addressing the 
French Chamber of Peers, said: “Any 
system of school training which sharp¬ 
ens and strengthens the intellectual 
powers, without at the same time af¬ 
fording a source of restraint and 
counter-check to their tendency to evil, 
is a curse rather than a blessing.” 
This points clearly to the imperative 
necessity not of education alone, but 
of Christian education. 

1415. Will It Pay? 

“Will an education pay?” Pay in 
what? Money! In nine cases out of 
ten it does that. Statistics show that 
the vast majority of men who stand 
high in business have been educated 
men. But there are so many higher 
things than money! Education pays 
in developing mental power, in giving 
a man resources in himself, in leading 
him to choose the higher joys, in fitting 
him for the duties of life .—Journal 
and Messenger. 

1416. The Education of the Heart. 

There never was a time when the 
people needed the inspiration of the 
Bible more than they do at the present 
day. And there is not a community 
which cannot be purified, redeemed 
and improved by a better knowledge 
and larger application of the Bible in 
their daily life. No money that is 
invested pays so large a dividend as 
that spent in the moral uplifting of 
the community. I am inclined to be¬ 
lieve that we have overestimated the 
value of mental training and under¬ 
estimated the value of the heart’s de¬ 
velopment. A good heart can use a 
very dull mind and make that mind 
serviceable to society, but a bad heart 
cannot make use of mind, however 
brilliant .—William Jennings Bryan. 

1417. The College Man at Atten¬ 

tion. 

Commencement exercises in our col¬ 
leges bring the students face to face 


with vocational duties, perhaps with 
the real work of life. They stand at 
the parting of the ways, or at the end 
of the road. It may not be best to 
select one’s profession till his college 
work is nearing completion- Such a 
course opens up so many avenues of 
service with which one was unacquain- 
ten before that former decision may 
be set aside by new light. 

1418. Danger of Mediocrity. 

The danger of college life to-day is 
in mediocrity. There is less distinction 
now than formerly in being a gradu¬ 
ate. Our homes and streets swarm 
with them. There is more likelihood 
of dwelling on the common level, since 
that level is higher than it was. But 
not the less does the constant ascen¬ 
dency of life call for your elevation 
in individuality, in aim and in achieve¬ 
ment. The charm of novelty is past, 
the very abundance of our academic 
privileges is sometimes a barrier to 
stern and deeper discipline. We must 
not cease to conspire with each return¬ 
ing day, to insist upon a new bias and 
a fresh authority, for those eternal 
truths toward which the whole crea¬ 
tion moves and of which you are the 
representatives and the advocates.— 
Rev. Samuel Parkes Cadman, D.D. 

1419. Victory and Vantage-Ground. 

To the student in college, commence¬ 
ment day is a goal; when reached it 
is a starting-point. Education is both 
an end and a means. The same may 
be said of every lesson: well learned, 
it is a victory and a vantage-ground. 

1420. To the Graduate. 

“Be true to the dreams of thy youth,” 

O graduate, hopeful and bright, 

Thy life lies before thee to-day, 

See to it thou use it aright. 

“Be true to the dreams of thy youth;” 

‘Mid the sordid distractions and cares 
Awaiting each eager young heart, 

Ne’er lose early longings and prayers. 

“Be true to the dreams of thy youth:” 
Forget not thy purposeful aim; 



346 


COLLEGES MAKING MEN 


Move forward and upward each year, 

And the fruit of thy labor thou’lt claim. 

“Be true to the dreams of thy youth,” 
Preserve the now-cherished ideals, 

Until in His own gracious time 
Our Father His glory reveals. 

— A. IV. Lyon. 

1421. Colleges Making Men. 

Voicing the spirit of the West, 
Sam Walter Foss has written: 

“Give me men to match my mountains. 
Give me men to match my plains, 

Men with empires in their purpose, 

Men with eras in their brains.” 

1422. Public School Idyl. 

When a jingle strikes the popular 
ear and voices a common experience at 
the same time it is likely to find its 
wings and fly far. The question of 
over-cramming in our public schools 
has found its rhymester and many a 
parent will hardly know whether to 
laugh or sigh over Frank Lintabar’s 
poem in Punch which begins: 

“Ram it in, cram it in; 

Children’s heads are hollow 1 
Slam it in, jam it in; 

Still there’s more to follow. 

Hygiene and History, 

Astronomic mystery. 

Algebra, Histology, 

Latin, Etymology, 

Botany, Geometry, 

Greek and Trigonometry— 

Ram it in, cram it in, 

Children’s heads are hollow!” 

1423. Education and Mere Facts. 

Education is not merely the writing 
of facts on the mind as one writes on 
a blank slate. It resembles rather the 
placing of fresh color on canvas on 
which earlier colors are not dry. The 
new colors mix with the old. So the 
living mind mixes new information 
with what is already in it, judges the 
new in the light of the old. 

1424. Coaling for the Voyage. 

Ambitious boys chafe at being kept 
in school because they think that school 
is make-believe and the job is a 
reality. But school is, in reality, a 
part of the job. It is like two steamers 
coaling for a long voyage. One sails 


away with her bunkers half full. She 
gets a long start on the other. But 
the second, by staying in port until her 
bunkers are full, passes the other in 
midocean, where her coal has given 
out. 

1425. Wrong Learning. 

A man who knows all about the 
rocks, and his heart remain as hard 
as they; he may know all about the 
winds, and be the sport of passions 
as fierce as they; he may have all the 
knowledge of a Newton, a Laplace, a 
'Watt; he may know many mysteries 
and understand many hidden things, 
but if he has no personal knowledge 
of the love of God, brought near to 
sinful men in Christ, what shall it 
avail ?—Jewish Missionary Magazine. 

1426. The Fool-Killer. 

J. Ogden Armour, makes the remark 
that the college is one of the greatest 
fool-killers in the country, for a while 
many fools enter college, few fools 
come out. 

There is truth in this saying. But 
the truth must be expanded to include 
all life. All our experience is de¬ 
signed to eradicate the fool. I believe 
it was Robert Burns who remarked 
that a man may be born a fool, but 
there are few men that die fools. I 
am afraid that this is too sweeping a 
statement, but it is quite as true as 
Mr. Armour’s epigram. 

After all, college is organized to im¬ 
part knowledge, not wisdom. 

1427. What He Wanted to Know. 

The professor was delivering the 
final lecture of the term. He dwelt 
with much emphasis on the fact that 
each student should devote all the in¬ 
tervening time to preparing for the 
final examinations. 

“The examination-papers are now in 
the hands of the printer. Are there 
any questions to be asked ?’* 



THE DEFENSES OF TO-MORROW 


347 


Silence prevailed. Suddenly a voice 
from the rear inquired, 

“Who’s the printer?” 

1428. A College Education. 

A college education not only rubs 
the greenness off young people and 
combs away most superfluous kinks, 
but it gives to them a certain polish 
and finish and ease which nothing else 
seems quite able to do. Then, again, 
it widens the mental horizon of young 
folks in remarkable fashion when we 
consider what a short time they are 
actually at college. They are intro¬ 
duced to departments and realms of 
knowledge of which they had never 
thought in their wildest fancies, and 
these ever-widening avenues leading 
to those rare and choice regions where 
the great and the beautiful of mind 
and spirit have dwelt in winsome se¬ 
clusion are found to be more and more 
delightful and desirable as the years 
pass. We are taught how to handle 
books, how to read them aright, how 
to master them, and how to discrim¬ 
inate in the use of books. At college 
we learn the difference between the 
show of things and the reality, be¬ 
tween the spurious and the real.— 
Nashville Advocate. 

1429. Commencement Mottoes. 

The message which, through the 
American Legion, Marshal Foch left 
for the young men of the United 
States is full of good sense. It is the 
message of a great general, and it 
sums up the principles by which he has 
won his battles. 

“He who hesitates is lost.” “He 
who moves forward wins.” Those two 
maxims were proved on many a hard- 
fought field of the World War. 

“Plan your battle of life in ad¬ 
vance,” writes this master of tactics. 
“Map out every detail of what you 
want to accomplish, and then follow 
out your programme.” That is ex¬ 
actly what Foch did. 


“Success is work, and work is suc¬ 
cess,” writes the man who labored 
more constantly and untiringly than 
any other man in his vast armies. 

But the Foch mottoes are not all 
secular, for the marshal is deeply re¬ 
ligious. He especially commends to 
American young folks his own life 
motto, a quotation from Racine, “Fear 
God, and have no other fear.” 

1430. The Defenses of To-mor¬ 

row. 

Doctor Finley, then Commissioner 
of Education of the state of New 
York, on his recent return from France 
brought this message, “Do not let the 
needs of the hour, however heavily 
they fall upon the men and women 
of to-day, permit neglect of the de¬ 
fenses of to-morrow.” 

Education is one of the strong de¬ 
fenses of to-morrow. 

1431. Esteem and Toleration. 

School and college are good places 
to make friends. The team-work that 
is there part of a young person’s 
training is a valuable part of educa¬ 
tion. In the public school, too, that 
melting-pot of different nationalities, 
children learn to respect those of other 
races. Education includes esteem and 
toleration. 

1432. Growing Education. 

The only man the world can use is a 
growing man. A lady college gradu¬ 
ate living in the country feared lest she 
lose scholarly interest in such an en¬ 
vironment. So she made a special 
effort to keep studying at odd mo¬ 
ments. “I improved my mind just a 
little every day,” she said. In conse¬ 
quence she became an eminent leader 
in all the social and religious activi¬ 
ties of her country, and her influence 
penetrated into ever-widening circles. 
—Henry C. Winter. 



348 


EDUCATORS SHAPING DESTINY 


1433. The Noblest Study. 

The Bible is the noblest study, and 
we shall make a great mistake if we 
study smaller books and do not study 
the greatest Book of all. The Bible 
gives us the spirit in which to study 
most effectively, and it interprets to 
us all the facts we may learn about 
nature and man. 

1434. Not a Sponge But a Foun¬ 

tain. 

Education, instead of converting a 
human being into a sponge to suck up 
other lives into his own, should make 
him a fountain, flinging forth streams 
of sympathy and service, helpfulness 
and good cheer on other lives. 

Education put to this use is one of 
the mightiest and most beneficent 
forces in the world. May the many 
young men and women who are just 
stepping out of school into life realize 
this ideal. 

1435. Education and Experience. 

Education and experience are both 
necessary to win the battle of life. But 
education does not always give ex¬ 
perience, as the graduate soon learns 
when he finds himself facing the 
stern realities of life. Education is 
preparation. Experience is operation. 
“We learn to live by living/’ That 
college or institution of learning is 
most successful that best fits its stu¬ 
dents for a constant and consistent 
meeting of life’s duties with courage 
and faith. Only as a school or college 
furnishes sturdy Christian influences 
for its students will it lay the founda¬ 
tion for real success in life. 

1436. The Great Teacher. 

Of Mark Hopkins, president of 
Williams College, President Garfield 
said, “A log cabin in Ohio, with a 
wooden bench in it, Mark Hopkins 
on one end and I on the other, would 
be college enough for me.” Thus we 
see that the essential elements of a 


school are not the building or equip¬ 
ment but the teacher and the pupil. 

The world acknowleges Jesus Christ 
as the Great Teacher. But before He 
began to teach He took a full course 
in God’s school and graduated with 
the highest honor. He was a child that 
He might be the children’s teacher, 
a youth for youth, a mature man for 
those of riper years. He experienced 
the highest joys of God’s school for 
He was a most apt pupil, and, “that 
He might be made like unto His 
brethren in all things,” He suffered 
its most severe discipline. He thus 
proved to all those who feel the divine 
chastisement that discipline is no sign 
of God’s ill will but it may be a sign 
of special love, for “He that spared 
not His own Son but delivered Him 
up for us all, how shall He not with 
Him freely give us all things.”— 
Charles B. Corwin. 

1437. A Good Investment. 

The best investment of to-day is 
in making the men and women of 
to-morrow. Christian education is es¬ 
sential to Christian citizenship. The 
essential factor in education for 
citizenship is that the persons being 
educated shall have developed in them 
the Christian principles of reverence, 
self-control, justice and brotherliness, 
so that they shall become not merely 
efficient but good citizens. 

1437a. Educators Shaping Destiny. 

The most dynamic and valuable 
thing in education is the impact of life 
upon life, provided always it is the 
right kind of life which makes the im¬ 
pact. “He shaped my destiny in life,” 
said Thomas Jefferson of William 
Small, a member of the faculty of 
William and Mary College. That “no 
one could sit in his classroom through 
four years of college course without 
becoming an earnest Christian” was 
said, long after his death, of the great 
president of a small college. The real 



SCHOOL DEMOCRACY 


349 


teacher reproduces himself mentally, 
morally and spiritually in the life of 
every real student who studies under 
him.— Rev. Calvin H. French. 

1438. Education By Association. 

“I am sending my boy to school to 
be educated by school boys,” said a 
discerning father. “As iron sharpen¬ 
ed iron, so a man sharpeneth the 
countenance of his friend.” Nowhere 
is this more true than in a company of 
college boys. Great as is the power of 
a real teacher over the developing life 
of a real pupil, it scarcely surpasses 
the power of college friendships. Of 
such friendships Tennyson wrote: 

“Since we deserve the name of friends 
And thine effect so live in me, 

A part of mine may live in thee 

And urge me on to nobler ends.” 

Fortunate is the boy or girl who be¬ 
comes a member of a college com¬ 
munity in which noble traditions of 
campus life have become established. 
A tradition is a fixed community habit; 
few things are more potent. Rules 
may curb or direct outward activities 
without touching the inward life. A 
real tradition secures the allegiance 
of the soul. Through loyalty and obe¬ 
dience to itself, it remakes the soul 
in its own image of idealism. 

143:8a. School Democracy. 

The average American boy is dem¬ 
ocratic. His school does not suppress 
his idea of democracy. On the con¬ 
trary, the spirit of his school as well 
as the teachings of his masters with 
almost religious fervor try to impress 
upon him the importance of Mr. 
Roosevelt’s ideal: “The square deal 
for everybody.” The grandson of an 
eminent American statesman enrolled 
in one of our large private schools 
said to his mother: “I never before 
saw a place like this. They do not 
ask, ‘who is your grandfather?’ ‘what 
is your father worth?’ but they say, 


‘who are you, and what can you do?’ ’* 
W. M. Irvine. 

1439. Education and Religion. 

The aim of the Christian college is 
not reached by turning out students 
who are merely believers in Chris¬ 
tianity, who consent calmly and indif¬ 
ferently to its creed. It aims to fill 
its students with the spirit of St. Paul, 
to make them alive in the service of 
Christ, and to fire them with the en¬ 
thusiasm of humanity. 

There are special reasons to-day 
which show that the part taken by the 
Christian college in our national life 
is growing important and strategic. 
America, already the richest of na¬ 
tions, is to become far richer. The 
number of the wealthy will be in¬ 
creased, and millions will have most 
of the comforts, and even luxuries, 
which the very rich now enjoy. The 
tendency of opulence is to enervate. 
Christian character needs to be hard¬ 
ened and fortified against luxury. And 
a “manhood that can stand money” 
is what the Christian college aims to 
produce. 

Our civilization rushes to a vast and 
fatal plunge unless God is enthroned 
in the educated minds of our people. 
Education without religion is archi¬ 
tecture without foundation and roof. 
— Barrows. 

1439a. The Educated Man. 

The educated man has greater 
ability to grasp new truth and facts. 
The uneducated man is more likely to 
be unbalanced by new schemes and 
isms. The educated man has a broader 
mind and is more open to the opinions 
of others. 

What special advantage does the 
college-trained man gain over the self- 
made man, so called? The educated 
man has the advantage of being able 
to think more systematically. He has 
at his control a mass of facts, and he 



350 


PASSING DIVIDENDS 


is trained to see the fallacy of false 
schemes.— D. B. Moody . 

1440. Values. 

A Jersey bull sold recently for $65,- 
000. It is a queer freak of human 
judgment that can see so tremendous 
a value in a bull yet deems it unprof¬ 
itable to invest a like sum, or less, in 
a boy or an institution that takes a 
boy and develops in him a manhood of 
the truest, highest type, that thereby 
the great human race may be im¬ 
proved and saved from deterioration. 

1441. Education and Finding Mis¬ 

sion. 

Education ought to help one to an 
early and clear conception of his mis¬ 
sion. One of the prime purposes of 
the smoky, industrious little tugs which 
ply their craft upon the waters of our 
great seaports is to lead out, from 
their docks and moorings, the great 
ocean steamers to the place where, be¬ 
yond the breakwater and the land¬ 
locked bays, they feel the deep swell 
of the ocean tide, and there, loosing 
the hawser, point the prow toward 
the far-going voyage and the distant 
destination, and plunge out into the 
deep. So the first mission of educa¬ 
tion is to lead out the young life from 
the locked and sheltered harbor of 
home and parental control to the place 
of self-direction. To the ocean of 
deep water, tides, winds and storms 
one must come, and it is the business 
of his education to see that he comes 
thither prepared for what is before 
him.— Burnham. 

1442. Passing Dividends. 

The other day the richest railroad 
in New England passed its semiannual 
dividend. The president of the road 
reported that the road had made a 
large profit, but that the directors 
thought it wiser to use the money for 
improvements than to pay it to the 
stockholders. The stockholders and 


the public praised this action, because 
they knew it was needed. 

Every young student is passing his 
dividends. High school or college 
students may earn considerable money, 
and some of them do. They might 
pay it to those who have taken stock 
in them, their parents, but they are 
allowed to use it for improvements. 

But passing dividends is an emer¬ 
gency step; it ought not to be made a 
habit. Those who have invested their 
money in a railroad have a right to 
the interest on their money. And so 
also with the student. His parents 
may not need his money, but they have 
a right to expect his improvement. 
Those who sustain the schools and 
colleges by their gifts or their taxes 
have a right to find an improved prod¬ 
uct when school days are over, and 
to-day every educational institution is 
being tested and judged by this ques¬ 
tion. 

The best justification of any school 
of higher learning in the past has 
been that it has furnished leaders to 
the nation, and many an earnest stu¬ 
dent has been made brave during his 
monkish days of struggle by the 
thought that he was being trained to 
be a man of authority. Figures show 
that the colleges have well met the 
expectation and that they send out ten 
times as many leaders as come from 
the uneducated group. But if they 
should fail to do this in the future, 
they ought at least to furnish gradu¬ 
ates who do their work well. So when 
one who has had high-school or college 
training neither leads nor does his 
work well, he is passing the dividends 
that the world has a right to share.— 
W. Byron Forbush, D.D. 

1443. The End of True Education. 

The end of true education is not the 
passing of the examinations with 
honor. This may or may not be the 
best thing. Some walking encyclo¬ 
pedias are useless. Education should 



CONTINUING EDUCATION 


35i 


enable a person to find out the secret 
of knowledge and then make the best 
possible use of its treasury. Mark 
Pattison of Oxford, England, deplores 
the evil results often seen even in col¬ 
lege. “A young man is put in possesion 
of ready-made notions on every con¬ 
ceivable subject, a crude mass of mat¬ 
ter, which he is taught to regard as 
knowledge. Swollen with this puffy 
and unwholesome diet, he goes forth to 
the world, regarding himself, like the 
infant of the nursery, as the center of 
all things, the measure of the uni¬ 
verse.”— Rev. A. W. Lewis. 

1444. Continuing Education. 

Circumstances over which she had 
no control placed a lady, a college 
graduate, in a country district, miles 
from a railroad. Fearing that in such 
an environment she would lose her 
scholarly interest, she made this re¬ 
solve: “I will improve my mind a 
little every day.” To-day her influ¬ 
ence extends even beyond her own 
state. Truly has it been said: “If you 
have what the world wants, the world 
in time will find its was to your 
door.” 

1445. The Useless Graduate. 

“There was a man there who had a 
withered hand ” Mark 3 : I. 

Many a graduate, supposedly well 
trained, has “a withered hand.” 

For instance, he cannot hold the 
ballot—he cannot wield the instrument 
of the American freeman in hewing 
the path for American freedom. But 
he can talk brilliantly and sarcastically 
about our national failings and short¬ 
comings. And he becomes very jocose 
in discussing the efforts of those who 
make some effort to better the evil 
conditions he sees so clearly. 

And he cannot hold the Bible or a 
hymn-book. He can read some ephem¬ 
eral book or a newspaper crimsoned 
with sin and blackened with woe. But 


he can not hold the big Book—that 
Book which has imagery more won¬ 
derful than Dante, philosophy more 
profound than Plato. 

Nor can he hold an oar, not even 
in this age of practical philanthropy. 
He cannot row out to the dangerous 
eddies, to the spots where men have 
been overcome by sin and are being 
drawn by the undertow of death. No; 
his right hand is withered, and he 
can only stand on the shore and make 
sarcastic remarks about foreign mis¬ 
sions, home missions, and college 
settlements. 

Such a man can not honor schools, 
standing for years in the market-place 
and doing no useful work—for his 
right hand is withered. It is because 
of such men as he that we hear so 
many jokes by so called self-made 
men about college graduates. 

Now it is possible to become so much 
devoted to matters of technique that 
we neglect other faculties of our 
nature altogether. It is because of 
such neglect that the evils have arisen 
which I have endeavored to describe. 
And the cure for those evils will be 
found in an honest effort to follow 
Jesus of Nazareth.— Rev. Dr. Charles 
B. Jefferson. 

1446. Education Honored. 

The Rock of Plymouth has nothing 
in it which renders it intrinsically su¬ 
perior to thousands of other rocks. 
The site of Jamestown has nothing 
but its interesting associations to en¬ 
gage the attention of any one. But 
these spots being the first habitations 
of European settlers in America are 
invested with an interest felt by all. 
And this interest instead of growing 
weaker by the lapse of years gathers 
new strength. Such interests as these 
gather about the founding of some of 
our earliest institutions of learning. 
It is because education itself is re¬ 
garded as so important. 



352 


TO MEDICAL STUDENTS 


1447. Education is Spreading. 

For thousands of years the Chinese 
had no education except in their own 
ancient learning. Recently they have 
begun to see something better; and 
now those applying for public positions 
must be examined in western knowl¬ 
edge. Formerly only a few were edu¬ 
cated ; but now schools are being 
built everywhere. In all the govern¬ 
ment schools the mandarin dialect 
must be used; and in time the different 
tongues will be merged (into one. 
Besides the common schools, colleges, 
normal schools, manual training and 
agricultural institutions, mechanical 
and electrical academics are springing 
up all over this vast empire with its 
400,000,000 people.— Rev. A. W. Lewis. 

1448. Education Defined. 

What is education? The word 
“education” used in broadest sense 
means training for life. For using it 
in this way we have the most dis¬ 
tinguished precedents. President 
Emeritus Eliot has a strong address 
on “Education for Efficiency.” Presi¬ 
dent Maclaurin says, that “the end of 
education is to fit men to deal with 
the affairs of life honestly, intelligently 
and efficiently.” Abraham Flexner 
says, that it is “a concrete device to 
facilitate the assertion of individual 
capacity in terms of rational activity.” 
President Thwing says, that its su¬ 
preme purpose is to equip the student 
for life. Professor Burton says, that 
“by education we mean all of the pro¬ 
cesses, within and without our in¬ 
stitutions of learning, by which 
personality is developed.” 

It is not to be forgotten that edu¬ 
cation to be real must be Christian. 

1449. To Medical Students. 

Lord Kitchener, a man of deeds 
rather than words, has paid a glow¬ 
ing tribute to America in her fight 
against disease. He has acknowledged 
that England is far behind in this 


most important matter. In addressing 
the students of the Middlesex Hospital 
Medical School he said, “I am agrieved 
to think that England is so far be¬ 
hind other nations in the modern 
struggle against disease by sanitary 
methods; but this conclusion was 
forced upon me when I saw what 
America had achieved in so apparently 
“hopeless area as the Isthmus of Pan¬ 
ama.” Health officers should be en¬ 
couraged to enforce the merciful laws 
in promotion of health.— Rev. A. W. 
Lewis. 

1450. Commencement Thought. 

It is said of Bernard of Clairvaux, 
who fired all Europe with the new 
crusade, and who was accustomed to 
rebuke princes and potentates without 
hesitancy, though he lived in com¬ 
parative poverty and obscurity him¬ 
self, was accustomed to ask himself 
every morning this question: “Ber¬ 
nard, wherefore art thou here?” 
“Bernard, wherefore art thou here!” 
That is a goodly inquisition for every 
soul and is peculiarly apposite, it seems 
to me, in the cases of these young 
gentlemen in the pauses of a Com¬ 
mencement Week, when they are about 
to confront larger responsibilities and 
possibly graver problems than have 
been placed before their attention 
hitherto. 

1451. Teaching to Know. 

It would be a great mistake for 
any graduate from school or college 
to think that because the long course 
is ended and the diploma won, there¬ 
fore days of study are over. The fact 
is, such days have only just begun. 
The main object of a course of train¬ 
ing is to learn how to acquire knowl¬ 
edge by the process of original 
research and investigation. The habit 
of finding out the reason for things, of 
tracing effects back to their causes, of 
weighing evidence, of estimating the 



TWENTIETH CENTURY PATRIOT 


353 


value of one’s authorities, and thus 
subsoiling one’s knowledge, is worth 
all the years of discipline it took to 
acquire it. There is a great deal of 
surface knowledge afloat in the world 
that would not bear deep probing. 
Many a person knows that the earth is 
round who yet would not be able to 
prove it. The educated person has 
learned to substantiate his knowledge, 


so that he not only knows, but knows 
that he knows. And he forms the 
habit of gaining knowledge of which 
he can say: “I know and I know 
that I know.” In such knowledge 
there is a power and efficiency that 
gives its possessor a mastery in the 
affairs of life such as others do not 
have. 


XXII. INDEPENDENCE DAY 

(The Fourth of July.) 


1452. Its New Meaning. 

The Fourth of July henceforth has 
a new meaning in the history of 
America. In the great World War 
the American people dedicated them¬ 
selves anew to the cause of human 
freedom—a world-wide freedom. For 
the past two years Great Britain, 
France, Belgium and other of our late 
allies joined in the celebration of the 
American Independence Day, because 
they see that it stands for that for 
which the world longs and which, 
by the grace of God and the sacri¬ 
ficial spirit of the American people, 
the world is likely to enjoy. 

1453. Bible Teaches Patriotism. 

The Bible teaches intense love of 
one’s country. The Jew was passion¬ 
ately fond of his beautiful land. 
“Rejoice ye with Jerusalem,” Isaiah 
sung, “and be glad for her, all ye that 
love her; rejoice for joy with her, 
all ye that mourn over her” (Isa. 
66: 10). When exiled from his own 
land, the Jew filled his days with weep¬ 
ing. “How shall we sing the Lord’s 
song in a foreign land?” he asked 
(Ps. 137:1, 47). Our Lord wept over 
Jerusalem, and would have gathered 
her children together “even as a hen 
gathereth her chickens under her wing 
and they would not” (Mat. 23:37)* 

23 


1454. Prayer for America. 

God help us, as citizens of liberty, 
blessed with abundance, to pray: 

“America I America! God mend thine 
every flaw, , 

Confirm thy soul in self-control, thy 
liberty in law! 

America! America! May God thy gold 
refine 

Till all success be nobleness and every 
gain divine!” 

1455. Patriotic Giving. 

A British soldier invalided home 
with his arm amputed at the shouler, 
it is related, refused to let any of his 
friends refer to his having “lost an 
arm.” Said the soldier manfully, “I 
did not lose it; I gave it.” There is 
an entire encyclopaedia of chivalry and 
generosity in that distinction. It is 
the man who has consecrated himself 
to an unselfish use of all that he is 
and all that he has, who can see any 
part of himself or his possessions 
taken for the benefit of that cause 
and still feel no sense of loss. In 
place of lamentation for what he is 
deprived of, he is conscious of a 
prideful honor in what he has been 
enabled to do. 

1456. Twentieth Century Patriot. 

The battles which the twentieth 
century patriot must fight are harder 
than those waged on bloody fields. 
For he has to go forth against in- 



354 


A GOOD AMERICAN 


trenched greed, inert ignorance, deadly 
class hatred, and the complex and 
difficult social problems which tax the 
best trained brain and the stoutest 
heart. 

1457. Our Flag. 

Here comes The Flag I 
Hail it! 

Who dares to drag 
Or trail it? 

Give it hurrahs, 

Three for the stars, 

Three for the bars, 

Uncover your head to it! 

The soldiers who tread to it 
Shout at the sight of it. 

The justice and right of it, 

The unsullied white of it, 

The blue and the red of it, 

And tyranny’s dread of it! 

Here comes The Flag! 

Cheer it! 

Valley and crag 
Shall hear it. 

Fathers shall bless it, 

Children caress it, 

All shall maintain it. 

No one shall stain it. 

Cheers for the sailors that fought on 
the wave for it, 

Cheers for the soldiers that always were 
brave for it, 

Tears for the men that went down to 
the grave for it. 

Here comes The Flag! 

—Arthur Macy. 

1458. A Good American. 

Calvin P. Titus, the young Ameri¬ 
can soldier who planted the Stars and 
Stripes on the walls of Peking, and 
received for his bravery a West Point 
scholarship and a medal by Congress 
deserves to be honored as a hero. 
He also deserves honor for this say¬ 
ing : “My greatest aim is to be a 
good American.” 

1459. Cannot Buy. 

General Joseph Reed was approached 
with a heavy bribe by British em¬ 
issaries similiar to those who bought 
Benedict Arnold. He answered their 
offer as follows: “I am not worth 
purchasing; but, such as I am, the 
king of Great Britain is not rich 
enough to buy me.” 

1460. He Stands Fire. 

One of the boys who had recently 
enlisted in the army, knelt down on his 


first night in the barracks to say his 
prayers. The men laughed at him; 
but he remained on his knees. The 
next night caps and belts were flung 
at him, with all manner of epithets, 
but he remained on his knees. The 
third night the same thing was re¬ 
peated, with jeering and whistling; 
but he remained on his knees. On the 
fourth night, when the cyclone began, 
the corporal said: “Boys, let that fel¬ 
low alone. He stands fire.” The 
world respects that sort of moral 
courage. It stands aside for the man 
who stands fire. Not principalities, 
nor powers, nor spiritual wickedness 
in high places can prevail against 
him.— Intelligencer. 

1461. The Flag Goes By. 

Hats off! 

Along the street there comes 
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums, 

A flash of color beneath the sky; 

Hats off! 

The flag is passing by. 

Blue and crimson and white it shines, 
Over the steep tipped ordered lines. 

Hats off! 

The colors before us fly; 

But more than the flag is passing by. 

Sea fights and land fights, grim and great. 
Fought to make and save the state; 
Weary marches, and sinking ships; 

Cheers of victory on dying lips. 

Days of plenty and days of peace; 
March of a strong land’s swift increase; 
Equal justice, right and law. 

Stately honor and reverend awe. 

Sign of a nation, great and strong, 

To ward her people from foreign wrong; 
Pride and glory and honor, all 
Live in the colors to stand or fall 
Hats off! 

— H. H. Bennett. 

1462. How the Flag was Saluted. 

Once upon a time there was a 
famous singer whose name was Jenny 
Lind. She came to this country and 
sang so beautifully that the people 
thronged to the places of entertainment 
where she was. While she was in 
New York City the American Frigate 
St. Lawrence came home from a trip 
abroad, and on their first night ashore 



THE CHRISTIAN VOTING 


35S 


some of the midshipmen went to hear 
Jenny Lind sing. They were so im¬ 
pressed that the next day they went 
in a body to call on her, hardly dar¬ 
ing to hope that she would receive 
them; but she did. They invited her 
to come on board the frigate, and she 
accepted their invitation. They were 
much pleased and gave her a royal 
good time. As she was about to leave 
the boat Miss Lind said, “I should like 
to salute your flag," and looking up 
to the Stars and Stripes she sang 
with a wonderfully rich expression, 
“The Star Spangled Banner." When 
she started to sing, every man and 
officer came on deck and on every 
near-by ship the officers and crew 
crowded the bulwarks to hear her. As 
she finished the song deafening cheers 
rang out from every vessel, and the 
whistles blew wildly. Such was the 
salute that Jenny Lind gave to our flag 
a good many years ago. 

1463. Exalted by Righteousness. 

Two things are now quite generally 
conceded among civilized and even 
semi-civilized peoples. The first is 
that God rules among the kingdoms 
of the earth; that He presides over 
and controls the destinies of nations. 
The second is that those nations that 
are righteous God exalts, while those 
that are sinful become a reproach and 
are destroyed. To a sinful nation it 
can be said, in the words that were 
on the walls of a wicked king’s palace, 
“God hath numbered thy kingdom, and 
finished it." The history and doom of 
every sinful nation is expressed in the 
words of the prophet: “The nation 
and kingdom that will not serve Thee, 
shall perish; yea, those nations shall 
be utterly wasted.” The fact is that 
the holy people are the happy people, 
the prosperous people, the people that 
are to have a lengthened and happy 
history. “Righteousness exalteth a 
nation; but sin is a reproach to any 
people."— H. 


1464. Patriotic Thanksgiving. 

Admiral Sir David Beatty was in 

charge of the British-Allied fleet that 
received the surrender of the German 
fleet in the Firth of Forth. At sunset 
the signal was given from the Ad¬ 
miral’s ship to haul down the German 
flags. Following that this historic 
signal was sent out by the Admiral: 
“It is my intention to hold a service 
of thanksgiving at 6 o’clock to-day for 
the victory which Almighty God has 
vouchsafed his Majesty’s arms, and 
every ship is recommended to do the 
same.” 

1465. God in History. 

The motto engraved upon the coins 
struck to commemorate the great vic¬ 
tory over the Spanish Armada is from 
Psalm 147: 18: “Deus afflavit”—“God 
Causeth his Wind to Blow." God’s 
hand is in history. His hand is clearly 
seen in our nation’s history. 

1466. The Christian Voting. 

In the great election of 1886 in 
England the late Prof. Henry Sidg- 
wick travelled from Davos, Switzer¬ 
land, to Cambridge, England and back 
again in order to cast his vote. This 
act of personal sacrifice is the essence 
of citizenship. Professor Sidgwick 
was sure that his party would win; 
but he felt it his duty to help make 
the victory greater. 

1467. The New Americanism. 

Here is heroism: To venture the 
use of the Spirit of Jesus is industry, 
in diplomacy, in the practical situations 
in which men find themselves in our 
complex relations. Our highest 
Americanism is our confidence that 
the Cross of Christ is the wisest and 
strongest force in existence; that to 
be led by its eternal spirit is to be 
in possession of the only omniscience 
and omnipotence of God’s command; 
and that employing its strength only 



356 


THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 


can we ever hope to weld the forces 
of our civilization, bind their hearts 
in devotion to our country and secure 
that measure of peace and happiness 
and joy among our citizenship and that 
fidelity and that loyalty to the Master, 
whose goodness and mercy alone can 
guarantee and safeguard the home and 
the lives and hopes of our people. 

But the New Americanism stands 
even for a larger and more glorious 
sphere of service—a sphere of service 
commensurate with world obligation 
and limitation. To the thoughtful 
student of world affairs to-day, it is 
evident that in this supreme struggle 
for Christianity, America must be a 
dominant force, whose voice shall and 
will and must be heard in world af¬ 
fairs; and that we must illustrate in 
practical religion our faith and our 
hope.— Rev. R. L. Bell. 

1468. Unselfish Patriotism. 

At the siege of Yorktown, Lafayette 
said to Thomas Nelson, Governor of 
Virginia, “To what particular spot 
would your Excellency direct that we 
point the cannon?” “There,” promptly 
replied the noble-minded, patriotic 
Nelson, “to that house; it is mine, and 
is the best one you can find in the 
town; and there you will be most 
certain to find Lord Cornwallis and 
the British head-quarters.” It would 
be well if some of the real-estate 
owners of the present day 1 were as 
self-sacrificing as this eighteenth- 
century governor. 

1469. For My Country. 

When the Japanese enlist they count 
themselves as dead to everything but 
their country’s protection. A sailor 
heard a temperance appeal and signed 
the pledge with the statement: “I 
have given my body to my country. 
I now want to bring it to the best so 
that I can render the best service. 
Liquor, I now see, cripples my use¬ 


fulness, so I will give it up that I 
may be a better fighter.” 

1470. Your Flag and My Flag. 

Your flag and my flag, 

And how it flies to-day 
In your land and my land 
And half a world awayl 
Rose-red and blood-red 

The stripes forever gleam; 

Snow-white and soul-white— 

The good forefathers' dream; 

Sky-blue and true blue, with stars to 
gleam aright— 

The gloried guidon of the day; a shelter 
through the night. 

Your flag and my flag! 

And, oh, how much it holds— 

Your land and my land— 

Secure within its folds 1 
Your heart and my heart 
Beat quicker at the sight; 

Sun-kissed and wind-tossed— 

Red and blue and white. 

The one flag—the great flag—the flag for 
me and you— 

Glorified all else beside—the red and 
white and blue! 

Your flag and my flag! 

To every star and stripe 
The drums beat as hearts beat 
And lifers shrilly pipe! 

Your flag and my flag— 

A blessing in the sky; 

Your hope and my hope— 

It never hid a lie! 

Home land and far land and half the 
world around, 

Old Glory hears our glad salute and 
ripples to the sound! 

—Wilbur D. Nesbit. 

1471. Test of Patriotism. 

Any person who would defraud the 
nation by evading customs duties, by 
shirking public tasks, by falsely rep¬ 
resenting his liabilities to taxes, or by 
rendering less than full market value 
in every transaction with the govern¬ 
ment, must be enrolled somewhere out¬ 
side of the rank of patriots. 

1472. The Passion of Patriotism. 

“My greatest aim is to be a good 
American,” said Calvin P. Titus, the 
young American soldier who planted 
the Stars and Stripes on the wall of 
Peking, and who received for his 
bravery a West Point scholarship and 
a medal by Congress. Bishop Gallo¬ 
way said concerning Senator L’emar: 
“With Lemar patriotism was a pas- 



standard for patriotism 


357 


sion and politics a phase of religion.’’ 
“Patriotism,” said Noah Webster, “is 
the passion which aims to serve one’s 
country either in defending it from 
invasion or protecting its right and 
maintaining its laws and institutions 
in vigor and purity; it is character¬ 
istic of a good citizen, the noblest 
passion that animates man in the char¬ 
acter of a citizen.” 

I 473 - John Brown’s Scaffold the 
Calvary of Slavery. 

Victor Hugo declared, in one of his 
most impassioned sentences, that the 
gibbet of John Brown was the Calvary 
of the anti-slavery movement; and, 
assuredly, the execution of the brave 
old man was the death sentence of 
slavery .—Justin McCarthy, History of 
Our Own Times, Hi, 187 . 

1474. July Fourth in American 

Wars. 

The Fourth of July has been a big 
day in the wars of this republic. In 
1861 July 4th was the first day of the 
extra session of Congress, with eight 
States unrepresented. 

On July 4, 1863, Vicksburg surren¬ 
dered to General Grant. 

On the same day news was sent over 
the country that the Federal forces 
had won at Gettysburg. 

On July 4, 1864, Grant was gradually 
driving Lee back, though at a terrific 
cost of human life. 

On July 4, 1898, we got the news 
that Cervera’s entire Spanish fleet had 
been destroyed off Santiago by the 
United States fleet, that 600 Spaniards 
had been killed and drowned and 1,400 
taken prisoners on the day before. 

On July 4, 1918, well we were pretty 
busy pushing back the Hindenburg line 
and sundry other useful war maneuvers 
in France and elsewhere. 

1475. The Flag. 

The flag means liberty. It also 
means law. Its red means devotion, 


even to the shedding of red blood. 
The flag cost the blood of thousands. 
Because they gave their lives we have 
what we enjoy. The time has come 
when we must give life for the flag. 
The white means purity and intelli¬ 
gence. Good citizenship means good 
character. Wrong doing is treason 
to all the things for which the flag 
stands. Honesty, industry, and sob¬ 
riety are all in the salute to the flag. 
The white also stands for intelligence. 
No one who is ignorant is a full 
American. The hand that casts the 
ballot must be directed by the head 
that knows the ballot. Then the stars 
in the blue of the flag stand for 
him who is back of the stars. This 
is not an infidel nation. We may not 
understand God alike, but we do all 
alike believe there is a God. The 
great moral laws of God are the basis 
of America’s laws. When any man 
turns his back on God, he turns his 
back on the flag. 

1476. Standard for Patriotism. 

A hostess of Mr. Jacob Riis once 
asked him how, when he was only a 
reporter, he so reported the crimes 
of lower New York as to rouse the 
city to reform the shocking conditions 
there. The philanthropic reporter 
hesitated, gave one or two possible 
reasons, then added, “And then, you 
know, I am a Christian, and when a 
Christian sees a wrong he must do his 
utmost to right that wrong.” That 
is a good standard for patriotism. 

1477. The Throne Room. 

When Raphael’s great picture, the 
“Sistine Madonna,” was first brought 
to Dresdon it was displayed in the 
castle in the presence of the king. It 
was brought into the throne room, but 
the most favorable spot in the room 
was occupied by the throne itself. The 
king, taking in the situation, pushed 
the throne to one side, saying, “Make 
room for the immortal Raphael. The 



358 


GOD’S HAND IN HISTORY 


first place and the best place belong 
to him.” So the chief place in a 
nation’s life belong to God. The 
throne room is his rightful place. 

1478. Dear Old Flag. 

Dear old flag! brightest of tri¬ 
colors, precious bit of bunting, sym¬ 
bolic of holy love, eternal hope, and 
unshaken faith. Fly to the breezes 
of every wind under high heaven and 
teach mankind everywhere the truth 
that shall make men free! 

Here’s to the whole of it— 

Stars, stripes and pole of it, 

Body and soul of it, 

On to the goal of it. 

Carry it through, 

Home or abroad for it, 

Unsheated the sword for it. 

Fight in accord for it, 

Red, White and Blue.” 

— Rev. Edgar DeWitt Jones. 

1479. Reward of Patriotism. 

History tells us that Garibaldi re¬ 
linquished the comforts of his home 
at Caprera for some years, to fight 
the battles of his king. The magic 
of his name, the fire of his patriotism, 
his genius for command, wrought 
marvels for his country. He refused 
a reward, but the grateful king pre¬ 
pared a surprise for him. When he 
approached his home, he saw no object 
that he could recognize. His rough 
and tangled farm had been changed, 
as if by enchantment, into elegant 
grounds, with roads, paths, lawns, 
gardens, shrubbery, and avenues. His 
cottage was gone, and in its place 
stood a villa, replete with every con¬ 
venience within and without. As he 
walked from room to room, wonder¬ 
ing what magician had worked this 
transformation, he saw a full-length 
portrait of King Victor Emanuel, 
which explained the mystery. If 
Christian men were generally agreed 
upon the sacrificing of their personal 
comfort that righteousness and purity 
might prevail in the land, would they 
not find, sooner or later, a similiar 


transformation in their own home sur¬ 
roundings, and, better than all else, 
would they not find, revealed in the 
lives of their dear ones, the likeness 
of their Victor King, Emmanuel ? 

1480. God’s hand in History. 

God’s hand in history is nowhere 
more plainly apparent than in the 
growth of thirteen feeble colonies 
along the Atlantic seaboard into a 
strong and prosperous nation. The 
boldest imagination of the olden days 
would never have predicted such a 
result. What God has wrought for 
us implies some grand work yet to be 
done for him by the American people. 
It is a task for our Christian patriot¬ 
ism to discover what that special work 
is, and to set about the doing of it 
without delay.— Forward. 

1481. The Country Faith. 

Here in the country’s heart 
Where the grass is green, 

Bife is the same sweet life 
As it e’er hath been. 

Trust in a God still lives. 

And the bell at morn 
Floats with a thought of God 
O’er the rising com. 

God comes down in the rain. 

And. the crop grows tall— 

This is the country faith 
And the best of all! 

—Norman Gale . 

1482. True. 

Nothing is politically right that is 
morally wrong.— O’Connell. 

1483. A Nation’s Mission. 

The world has only begun to see 
that no country is great and no cause 
just that does not help on the world’s 
happiness and the world’s good.— The 
Churchman. 

1484. E Pluribus Unum. 

Band of the brave and free, 

How shall thy motto run? 

"Many states shall there be, 

But a nation ever one!” 

Aye. and more can we trace; 

Thus shall tlie motto run: 



PATRIOTISM AND PURPOSE 


359 


“Many and many a race; 

One people—and only onel 

“Many a party brand, 

Many a civic call; 

One love for our native land, 

And the flag that shelters all! 

“Many our human needs. 

Many a prayer as we plod. 

Many the churchly creeds— 

But the one and only God!” 

—John Clair Minot. 

1485. The Weakness of Selfishness. 

Frederick Palmer, in a recent maga¬ 
zine, says; “If we acquire a few more 
million automobiles, and plumbers 
ride in five-thousand-dollar instead of 
three-thousand-dollar cars, I wonder 
if we may develop acute melancholia; 
for the faces in the triumphant pro- / 
cession of democracy’s luxury along * 
our gasoline-perfumed highways on 
Sunday mornings did not seem as 
happy as the faces of the holiday¬ 
makers whom I had seen on foot in 
the Bois-de Boulogne, or those of the 
singing recruits for the army in Po¬ 
land. Yet one ought to be happier 
riding than walking. Else, why buy 
cars?” 

Might not the answer to Mr. 
Palmer’s question be “Selfishness” ? 
We are unhappy in the endless strug¬ 
gle for more wealth which, when 
gotten, is spent in an exaggerated ef¬ 
fort to find pleasure and momentary 
recreation from the wearying routine. 
Let this Fourth of July find us dedi¬ 
cating ourselves to higher ideals, of 
peace and contentment and industry 
and sane and simple living.— H. 

1486. Making a Religion of Patriot¬ 

ism. 

Dr. W. L. Watkinson, of England, 
when in this country a few years ago, 
intimated that he considered the out¬ 
standing feature of American life to 
be the presence of school children laden 
down with their books. Said he: 
“Your flag is always flying from the 
school buildings and your national 
anthem is constantly on the children’s 


lips. You have made a religion of 
your patriotism and hence you have 
built the nation strong. . . . The 
parents have come from every land, 
but the children seem conscious of 
being Americans.” 

1487. Patriotism and Purpose. 

Patriotism may be used as a cloak 
for concealing selfishness and ras¬ 
cality. Samuel Johnson’s observations 
led him to say that sometimes “pa¬ 
triotism is the last refuge of a scoun¬ 
drel.” Patriotism must spring from 
pure purpose else it is perverted easily 
into demagoguery. 

1488. “I Was There.” 

We are told that many years ago, 
after a hard fought battle, wherein the 
valor and heroism of the soldiers were 
made apparent, the victorious com¬ 
mander presented his soldiers with a 
medal bearing the name of the battle, 
and the simple words, “I was there.” 
The soldiers received and prized these 
medals far more than though they had 
been of the finest gold studded with 
priceless jewels. So, my countrymen, 
we are in the midst of the greatest 
battle of the ages, not of swords, but 
of ideas and principles. Shall this 
Republic be Christian or infidel ? Shall 
this people be a temperate and chaste 
people, or shall it become drunken 
and licentious? Shall the flag wave 
o’er the triumphant millions in the 
years to come as the emblem of union 
and the cross of Calvary?— Rev. H . 
W. Bolton, D.D. 

1489. America Forever! 

We cry “America forever!” But 
what kind of an America shall it be? 
Strange words are creeping into the 
language. Chief among them is 
“graft.” And when jt applies to men 
in high places it strikes most omin¬ 
ously on the ear. 

The old Indepedence bell sounded 



3<5o 


NO AMBULANCE FOR HIM 


forth notes of freedom, justice and 
loyalty. Loyalty to the right. Would 
God that our Independence Day might 
appeal to the hearts of men, forcing 
them to a regard and pursuance of 
such principles as make for the glory 
and upbuilding of the fairest nation 
of the earth. 

1490. Follow Christ. 

A French soldier, ready to go to the 
front said: “I am dead; France is 
dead; both I and France are dead that 
France may live.” He meant that as 
a soldier he was ready to die, he was 
as good as dead, and that he and the 
youth of France were willing to die 
in order that France’s liberties might 
be preserved. The soldier gives him¬ 
self to his country or king; gives 
himself utterly, to death if need be, 
and goes where he is sent, obediently. 

The Christian soldier must serve 
Christ in the same noble spirt. He 
must die to sin; he must be ready to 
obey his king; he must be willing to 
follow Christ; to fight sin. And he 
will find that the first fighting takes 
place in his own heart. It is easy to 
fight others; it is hard to fight our 
own desires. Yet that is where our 
first victories must be gained. Are we 
willing to deny ourselves and follow 
Jesus?— Rev. R. P. Anderson. 

1491. The Best Patriot. 

“Righteousness exalteth a nation.” 
This may safely be taken as a general 
principle. Righteousness promotes the 
life of a nation. Good has in it the 
seeds of life. It is constantly re¬ 
producing itself. It has in it the 
potency of increased harvests of good. 
It produces thirty, sixty and an hun¬ 
dred fold. Evil has within itself the 
principle of decay. Its tendency is 
toward death, disintegration, and de¬ 
struction. 

Righteousness promotes the pros¬ 
perity of a nation. Evil does not pay. 


Good does pay. It is true of nations 
as of individuals that “Godliness is 
profitable unto all things, having 
promise of the life that now is, as 
well as of that which is to come.” 
Queen Victoria was right when she 
handed a Bible to an ambassador from 
a foreign court and said: “Tell your 
master this is the secret of England’s 
greatness.” The best patriot is the 
man who loves his Bible best, tries 
hardest to live by it, and to get others 
to live by it. 

Righteousness is the chief factor 
not only in the prosperity, but in the 
safety of any nation.— H. 

1492. No Ambulance For Him. 

The old soldier was telling of his 
thrilling adventures on the field of 
battle to a' party of young fellows, 
one or two of whom were sceptical 
as to his veracity. 

“Then," he said, “the surgeons took 
me up and laid me in the ammunition- 
wagon, and—” 

“Look here,” interrupted one of the 
doubtful listeners. “You mean the 
ambulance-wagon.” 

But the old man shook his head. 

“No,” he insisted; “I was so full 
of bullets that they decided I ought 
to go in the ammunition-wagon.” 

i493« American Initiative. 

When Dewey’s squadron needed 
coal, the admiral purchased a large 
amount of it without consulting the 
department. The following official 
correspondence is self-explanatory: 

Navy Department, Washington, D. 
C. To Dewey, Manila: Why did you 
buy so much coal?— Bradford. 

Flagship Olympia, Manila. 

To Bradford, Chief Bureau Equip¬ 
ment, Washington; To burn.— Dewey. 

American initiative did not begin in 
the World War. It was there, but it 
had precedents. 



361 


WHAT THE LIBERTY BELL SAID 


1494. True Heroism. 

Faith in yourself, your army, your 
cause and in Almighty God is essen¬ 
tial to victory. He who doubts is 
damned. A colonel during the Civil 
War once said to his regiment: “After 
you charge on yonder fortifications re¬ 
port to yonder ravine; and, as I am a 
little lame, I will start now for the 
ravine.” Every one of the soldiers 
reached the ravine ahead of the 
colonel. 

1495 * What the Liberty Bell Said. 

Don’t you always feel glad that it 
was a boy who helped send out the 
news that our Congress in the State- 
house in Philadelphia had decided that 
our country was to be free? On the 
morning of that fourth day of July 
the old bell-ringer of the State-house 
had been up in the steeple waiting to 
ring his bell if Congress should adopt 
thd Declaration of Independence. He 
had put a boy down at the door to 
send him up word as soon as there 
should be any news. Hour after hour 
went by. The old bell-ringer said, 
“They will never do it! They will 
never do it!” and then suddenly there 
was a great shout from below, and 
there stood the boy clapping his hands 
and crying, “Ring! Ring!” The old 
man caught the clapper of the bell in 
his hands and swung it back and forth 
a hundred times, and every time the 
bell called out, “Free! Free! Free!” 

There is a strange thing about the 
words engraved on that bell. They 
say, “Proclaim liberty throughout all 
the land and to the inhabitants there¬ 
of,” and yet those words were put 
there when the bell was cast in 1753, 
which was more than twenty years be¬ 
fore we ever thought of being free 
from England and an independent 
country. 

1496. Liberty Leads to Liberty. 

A nation may be independent or free 
and a great part of its people may be 


slaves. American independence did 
not liberate our slaves. But the logi¬ 
cal outcome of independence was 
emancipation. A nation cannot per¬ 
manently remain half slave and half 
free, as Lincoln clearly said. That is 
true in moral life also. One kind of 
liberty leads to another .—Christian 
Undeavor World. 

1497. The Pillars of a Nation. 

As General Diaz, of the Italian 
army, was bidding farewell to the Dis¬ 
armament Conference at Washington, 
he said: “While the limitation of 
naval armament is being discussed in 
this country, there must be disarma¬ 
ment in the hearts of the men of all 
nations, so that envy and hatred may 
be dispelled and that the world may 
realize its age-old dream of peace. 
The hearts of men must be right in 
order that the suffering, pain and 
misery which we have endured in wars 
shall not visit us again.” These golden 
words should thrill the hearts of all 
mankind. 

God’s Word says, “Keep the heart 
with all diligence, for out of it are the 
issues of life.” As heart power builds 
up the body, the dwelling place of the 
mind and soul, so the heart power of 
a nation can build up the principles of 
liberty and justice for all the world. 
When the pillars of the nation rest 
upon hearts of love, her foundations 
will be secure. The Church of Christ 
rests upon the cross of loving sacri¬ 
fice. The nations should stand side by 
side with the Church in the work of 
civilizing and redeeming a world.— 
Rev. B. W. Caswell. D.D. 

1498. Your Flag and Mine. 

Your flag and mine! How splendidly 
It flutters out against the sky; 

How glorious it is to see, 

How fair to you, how dear to me— 

Most proud of all the flags that fly! 
Your flag and mine, and ours to keep 
Unsoiled, unshamed, and waving high— 
Our trust unfeigned, our courage deep— 
For those whom, after we shall sleep, 

It shall inspire and glorify. 

—y. B. Kiser. 



362 


BELONG TO THE NATION 


1499. Keep Time With God. 

“Righteousness exalteth a nation.” 
Nations, like individuals, need to keep 
time with God. “I was in a large 
telegraph office the other afternoon 
when a voice from an upper room 
said, ‘Sixteen hours.’ Instantly each 
operator stopped signaling, and set all 
clocks and watches in the establish¬ 
ment at four o’clock sharp. Every 
day, from the city observatory at 
Madras, the timepieces of over nine 
thousand telegraph offices in the empire 
are set right, and the operation takes 
two minutes. It is worth while, so the 
government thinks, to stop the traffic 
on over 72,000 miles of telegraph lines, 
and over 287,000 miles of telegraph 
wire, at least once every twenty-four 
hours, to correct wayward clocks and 
set them to the sun. That set me 
thinking. Do I stop habitually, syste¬ 
matically, and regularly in the rush of 
life’s duties, at least once a day, for 
my spiritual nature, very wayward, 
alas! to be set right with God ?”■— 
Richard Burgess. 

1500. Civic Use of the Tongue. 

The way to get reforms is to agitate 
for them. When the suffragettes in 
England went to Mr. Balfour and 
asked him to do something for their 
cause, he told them to go out and 
“make a noise.” They have done so. 
From days of old the tongue has been 
used in protest against civic wrongs. 
Moses used it when he startled Pha¬ 
raoh with the request to let Israel go. 
As a matter of fact, the tongue has 
more victories to its account than the 
sword. Through it changes are being 
effected in the industrial world. 
Through it politics are being cleansed. 
Instruction, the letting in of the truth, 
is one of the most potent forces for 
social and civic righteousness.— Rev. 
R. A. Anderson. 

1501. Belong to the Nation. 

“No one has a right to belong to a 
country if he does not place the in¬ 


terests of the whole earth above the 
interests of his country, just as no 
one has a right to belong to a denom¬ 
ination if he does not place the in¬ 
terests of the church universal above 
the interests of his denomination, and 
just as no one has a right to belong 
to a political party if he does not 
place the interests of his country above 
the interests of that party.” 

1502. Victory Ascribed to God. 

In the second war with England, on 
the nth of September, 1814, after 
Commodore Macdonough had cleared 
his vessels for action, in the bloody 
and decisive battle on Lake Champlain, 
he gathered around him his officers 
and men, and, kneeling on the deck of 
the Saratoga near his heaviest gun, 
he prayed for the aid of Almighty 
God, and committed the issue into His 
hands. In the moment of triumph, he 
sent to the Secretary of the Navy the 
following dispatch: “Sir: the Al¬ 
mighty has been pleased to give us a 
a signal victory on Lake Champlain 
in the capture of one frigate, one brig, 
and two sloops-of-war of the enemy.” 
A few days after the battle, at a public 
dinner in Plattsburg, when he had left 
the table, this toast was offered: “The 
pious and brave Macdonough—the pro¬ 
fessor of the religion of the Redeemer 
—preparing for action, he called on 
God, who forsook him not in the hour 
of danger. May he not be forgotten 
by his country.” 

1503. Freedom By the Truth. 

We doubt very much whether any 
wiser use could be made of Independ¬ 
ence Day than to devote it to a study 
of the foundations and limitations of 
political freedom. The new day will 
not be so noisy as the old, but it 
will be saner. It may not be so spec¬ 
tacular but it will be more profitable. 
We shall never stand secure until we 
know where and why we stand. And 
we shall honor some elements of 



GOD THE VICTOR 


363 


national life now despised of the public 
if we are led to see that political free¬ 
dom is in the divine nature of things 
inseparable from moral character. No 
man, no nation, is ever long free un¬ 
less made free by the truth. 

1504. Not a Sane Fourth. 

He was testifying about the Fourth 
of July explosion of a small cannon, 
an explosion which had sent him to the 
hospital for some months. 

“Please give your version of the ex¬ 
plosion,” he was asked. 

“Well,” he said, “I was standing 
beside the gun, there was an awful 
racket, and the doctor said, ‘Sit up 
and take this.’ ” 

1505. Limiting Loyalty. 

Heroism is not limited to battle¬ 
fields, and let no one suppose that 
opportunity is lacking in these days 
for splendid service to one’s country. 
The greatest duty that one owes his 
country is to become a worthy citizen, 
for it is not broad lands nor crowded 
cities, nor mines of gold, nor world- 
encircling commerce that makes a 
nation great; its real greatness can 
only be measured by the character of 
its citizens, and service to the limit of 
his ability is required of each. To 
limit loyalty to fighting is to lose sight 
of the bulk of life. The day of elec¬ 
tion tests a nation no less than the day 
of battle. 

1506. God or Gold? 

“Just before I went to Brazil I was 
the guest of the President of the 
Argentine Republic. After luncheon, 
he said to me, ‘Mr. Babson, I have 
been wondering why it is that South 
America with all its natural advan¬ 
tages, its mines of iron, copper, coal, 
silver and gold; its rivers and great 
water-falls which rival Niagara, is so 
far behind North America.’ Being a 
guest, I said, ‘Mr. President, what do 


you think?’ He replied, ‘I have come 
to this conclusion. South America 
was settled by the Spanish, who came 
to South America in search of gold; 
but North America was settled by the 
Pilgrim Fathers, who went there in 
search of God.’ ”—Roger W. Babson . 

1507. God the Victor. 

(Exodus 17-9) 

Victor in battles, cause our eyes to see 
How great thy help was, how great it 
is still; 

Tend thy swift aid, and us from sin set 
free, 

And win the world to love thy holy 
will. 

Cleanse thou the nations; take away their 
greeds; 

For hates arise, and war clouds thickly 
lower; 

Oh, show thy grace while our high Header 
pleads, 

And let thy strong arm save us in this 
hour. 

Amalek then may boast and Christ belie; 
Evil may threaten, trenched without, 
within; 

But as we lift our “rod of God” on high. 
Surely thy love shall break the power 
of sin. 

Trustful we are, but only in thy might; 
By faith we march up hill or down 
dark slope. 

Banner of God, unfurl thy folds of light! 
Expel world-wrongs and impel heaven’s 
sweet hope. 

— Rev. John Grant Newman, D.D. 

1508. Two Fourth of July Events. 
On the Fourth day of July, 1868, five 

years after the surrender of Vicks¬ 
burg, two very important events 
occurred at Washington: First, the is¬ 
suing by the President of the Amnesty 
Proclamation pardoning all who had 
borne arms against the Union, who had 
not been under presentment or indict¬ 
ment in the United States courts. It 
was a most important measure and 
went a long way toward reconstruc¬ 
tion and the re-establishment of the 
spirit of brotherhood, after the long 
and bitter strife. 

The second event taking place on 
that day was the signing of the Bur¬ 
lingame Treaty at the Capitol. 



364 


PATRIOTIC IDEALS 


1509. Tribute to the Flag. 

Oh, thou child of seventy-six, con¬ 
ceived in the tears of brave women, 
and born of the blood of heroic men! 
When the father of his country un¬ 
furled thy broad stripes and bright 
stars on the field of Cambridge, and 
the nation’s eye first beheld thy beauty 
and significance, small wast thou then 
mid the nations round. Behold, how 
thou hast grown! Wake thy proud 
folds. Shake thy starry self. Thou art 
the admiration of the world. See thy 
great cluster composing their invisible 
and invincible sisterhood. Born with 
thirteen stars, each star a star of hope 
and struggle, thou hast bounded up to 
almost half hundred. Thou art hoary 
grown, how be it, more with honor 
than in years, for it was but yesterday 
when thou wast born. Much blood 
hath bought thee. Thou art ours. 

Thy name, “Old Glory,” the extent 
of thy dominions, from sun to sun, 
thou art the arbitrament of the earth. 
Thou speakest and all the world 
listens. Thou sayest to the opressed, 
Come and find liberty. The defense¬ 
less with thee has a defense. And be¬ 
hold younger hands have brought thee 
to us as a gift. Ours thou art, indeed. 
In our hearts we enshrine thee, thou 
dearest of all earthly gifts. Thou 
hast been blessed from heaven above 
and from earth beneath. Consecrated 
art thou by the blood of a thousand 
battlefields.— Rev. A. A. Chapman. 

1510. Patriotic Ideals. 

In the last analysis the fundamental 
requisite of good citizenship from the 
standpoint of the country is that a 
man should have the very qualities 
which make him of real value in the 
home, in the church, in all the higher 
relationships of life. 

Our country calls not for the life 
of ease, but for the life of strenuous 
endeavor. Let us, therefore, boldly 
face the life of strife, resolute to do 
our duty well and manfully; resolute 


to uphold righteousness by deed and 
by word; resolute to be both honest 
and brave, to serve high ideals, yet to 
use practical methods. — Theodore 
Roosevelt. 

1511. A New Declaration of Inde¬ 

pendence Needed. 

We need a new Declaration of In¬ 
dependence in this country. 

A Declaration of Independence from 
the money power; and to this end 
we, the citizens, need to free our own 
souls from the spirit of greed. 

A Declaration of Independence from 
the saloon power; and to this end we 
need the spirit of union and the cour¬ 
age of our convictions. 

A Declaration of Independence from 
traditionalism; and to this end we 
need to examine all new ideas, all 
honest reforms, without prejudice and 
with sympathy. 

A Declaration of Independence from 
militarism; and to this end we need 
to cultivate the closest friendly re¬ 
lations with all other peoples and 
races. 

A Declaration of Independence from 
bosses; and to this end every citizen 
needs to study political conditions, 
become acquainted with the records 
of candidates, and take an active part 
in political affairs. 

These five evils are worse for this 
country than George IV. ever thought 
of being, and this new Declaration, 
if made by all of us with sincerity of 
purpose, would do more for our land 
than the Declaration promulgated on 
July 4, 1776 .—Christion Endeavor 

World. 

1512. Our Flag. 

Resplendent on a field of blue, 

A star for every sovereign State, 

With seven bars of crimson hue. 

And six of white in alternate. 

Flag of our Union!—Everywhere 
On land and sea and under sea, 

And in the ocean of the air— 

A pledge of law and liberty. 

— E. P. Selden. 



DERAILING SWITCHES 


365 


1513. Wanted: Men! 

Wanted: Men! 

Not parties bound with mystic ties, 

Nor platforms framed of clever lies; 

Not politicians smug and bland, 

Nor candidates with eager hand; 

But men, 

Strong, patriotic men, 

To serve the people of the land 
With vision clear and hearts sincere; 

To quit themselves like men. 

—Unidentified. 

1514. “No Rent; Take It.” 

Those words of Henry Ford’s will 
become historic as an expression of 
prompt and ungrudging patriotism. 

The famous manufacturer, whose 
exertions in behalf of peace, noble if 
Quixotic, are well known, after our 
declaration of war devoted himself 
ardently to the task of winning a 
speedy victory. He had offered to as¬ 
sist the Administration in any way he 
could; so when a location was sought 
for a terminal supply-station, and his 
great automobile assembling plant in 
Boston was reported as most suitable, 
the government telegraphed Mr. Ford 
asking if the building could be obtained 
and what the rental would be. As 
quick as lightening came the reply, 
“No rent; take it.” His answer was 
characteristic of the man, and largely 
characteristic also of the times and of 
our American people. Our best is at 
the service of our country: !“No 
rent; take it.”— A. 

1515. Mammon a Nation’s De¬ 

stroyer. 

One of the greatest dangers that 
threaten the republic is the commercial 
spirit, which would trample down and 
degrade even the highest aims and 
noblest ideals. An American poet, 
Nelson Gardner, whose work will be 
better known in the coming years, has 
this wonderful stanza, which might 
well be written in letters of fire, so 
that all might read it at the Fourth 
of July celebration: 


“ ‘Beacon of Nations’ is thy rightful 
name, 

And always should thy states re¬ 
semble stars. 

Thy torch of freedom heavenward 
should flame, 

Consuming chains, and melting 
prison bars; 

But Mammon now thy native luster 
mars, 

And often are thy people stricken 
down 

Tow as are serfs that kneel before a 
crown; 

For gold is power, and man bujt 
grovels when 

The purse is mightier than the sword 
or pen.” 

1516. Faithful. 

In one of the landings in Gallipoli 
there was a desperate hour. The 
Turks counter-attacked fiercely, and 
beach parties who were disembarking 
stores were ordered to pick up rifles 
and re-enforce the firing line. In the 
darkness many rifles could not be 
found. But every man who could find 
a weapon went forward to help the 
troops, while the rest carried up a con¬ 
stant supply of fresh ammunition. 
Among these others a young midship¬ 
man covered himself with dozens of 
bandoleers, and carried them forward. 
Though knocked down on his way, he 
managed to carry on, toiling so bravely 
that others noticed his plucky willing¬ 
ness to serve. 

It was not his proper work, of 
course; young midshipmen do not 
join the navy for the purpose of car¬ 
rying bandoleers. But that was the 
task lying at his hand. He did it, and 
found honor in the doing. 

And always in life there are services 
to be done quite close to us, to the 
youngest of us. The great thing is to 
have eyes to see and a heart to do 
these often simple yet invaluable bits 
of work. 

1517. Derailing Switches. 

The railroad from Cripple Creek to 
Colorado Springs drops more than 
four thousand feet in forty miles. ^ All 
along the line are signs marked “De¬ 
railing Switch.” I asked the conduc- 



366 


WHEN VICTORY CAME 


tor the meaning. “Why,” said he, “if 
an engine should lose control of itself 
and come plunging down this fearful 
grade it might destroy a whole train- 
load of people below; so we are 
always ready to wire to the first de¬ 
railing switch, where the switchman 
will throw the engine into a ditch or 
against the rock. It is better to de¬ 
stroy one train than two.” All along 
the track of history God has had 
“derailing switches,” into which in¬ 
dividuals, cities, and nations that have 
lost control of themselves and become 
menaces to the world have had to be 
thrown.— W. A. Sunday, D.D. 

1518. Patriotism. 

Our Country for Christ is another 
way of saying Christ for the world I 
A true Christian is always a Cosmo¬ 
politan. Go, therefore; and keep on 
going with this blessed Gospel until, to 
the utmost of your ability, you have 
given it to the last man.— D. J. Bur¬ 
rell. D.D. 

1519. Patriotism and Religion. 

There was once a story written, 
called “The Man Without a Country.” 
I am not sure that I ever read the 
story. If I did it is forgotten, but 
the title is not forgotten; it was 
burned into the memory. A man with¬ 
out a country 1 The thing is a mon¬ 
strosity, the man is an outcast. Every 
man has a country—the land that gave 
him birth, or the government under 
which he lives. Your country and 
mine is America, “the land of the free 
and the home of the brave.” A still 
more startling caption would be “The 
Man Without a God.” Every man 
has a god. Your God and mine is 
Jehovah, the same in substance with 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

To our country we owe our love 
and devotion, even to the yielding up 
of our property and our lives as our 
country may have need of them—and 
this we call patriotism. To our God 


we owe our love and devotion, even 
to the yielding up of our property and 
our lives as He may have need of 
them—and this we call religion. 

Patriotism and religion! In these 
two words are summed up all that 
makes a man worthy to live; these 
two forces compel to all noble action, 
and without them a man is not a man 
but a thing, sooner or later to be cast 
out and trodden under foot or men.— 
Rev. G. A. Wilson. 

1520. Colonel Roosevelt and the 

Fourth of July. 

Col. Roosevelt was opposed to the 
celebration of the Fourth of July by 
race groups. He said: “I believe that 
we should make the Fourth of July a 
genuine Americanization day and 
should use it to teach the prime lesson 
of Americanism, which is that there is 
no room in this country for the per¬ 
petuation of separate race, groups or 
radical divisions, th. we must all be 
Americans and nothing but Americans, 
and that, therefore, on the Fourth of 
July we should all get together simply 
as Americans and celebrate the day as 
such without regard to several racial 
origins.” 

1521. When Victory Came. 

Hardly had the posters appeared 

announcing the signing of the armistice 
in the early morning, when the vast 
crowds of New York joined in a paean 
of rejoicing. Before the celebrations 
had lasted more than five minutes a 
tall, fresh-cheeked English girl, with 
the Devonshire bloom still on her 
cheeks, climbed to the platform of 
Liberty Hall, at the meeting point of 
Broadway and Seventh Avenue. The 
crowd became hushed as she raised her 
hand. Then in a clear, silvery voice 
the girl sang the Doxology. A 
churchly stillness spread over Times 
Square. Heads were bowed and hats 
came off as the song of praise to the 
Almighty winged its way upward. 




RING IN LIBERTY 


3 6 7 


1522. Church Banishing Plague. 

A recent writer says, “The church 
has banished, or helped to banish, 
many of the social plagues that used 
to poison and devastate human life.” 
Slavery is gone. Child-labor is going. 
The power of great wealth is to be 
controlled more and more. The church 
makes for the decencies of life. It is 
leaven at work in society moulding 
the national will, slowly, painfully, 
but surely, to the will of God. 

1523. Abuses Creep In. 

Abuses creep into nations as the 
money-changers establish themselves 
in the temple. Jesus drove the latter 
out, and we must apply the same 
principle to evils in our nation. The 
liquor traffic cannot be condoned or 
reformed; it must be expelled. 

1524. Sin a Reproach. 

“But sin is a reproach to any 
people.” It cannot be denied that in 
our times iniquity most alarmingly 
abounds. There is not a sin known 
to Satan which is not more or less 
prevalent in our beloved country. 
Fraud and dishonesty, embezzlements 
and defalcations, profanity, Sabbath 
breaking, licentiousness, intemperance, 
gambling, political unfaithfulness— 
these things alarmingly abound, and 
are a deep reproach upon our people. 
For the sake of the happiness, the 
prosperity, and the perpetuity of our 
nation they must be attacked by the 
people, and overcome by the power of 
law, public sentiment and right liv¬ 
ing.— H. 

1525. Ring In Liberty. 

William Hurry was merely the bell¬ 
man and janitor at the old State 
House, but he had the glory of ringing 
in the freedom of the nation. Early 
on the morning of the Fourth of July, 
1776, there might have been seen an 
old man, dressed in a Continental suit, 
crossing the State House yard, Phila¬ 


delphia. This man was janitor of the 
State House, who was on his way to 
ring the bell which convened Con¬ 
tinental Congress. By his side was 
a little curly-headed, blue-eyed boy, 
who listened attentively to the words 
of his companion. 

The boy was stationed at the door 
below, with instructions to signal the 
bellman if the Declaration was passed. 
The hours rolled by, the crowd be¬ 
came impatient, and as the shadows of 
the State House lengthened, the grey¬ 
haired veteran sighed, and said, 
“They’ll never do it!” Finally, the 
door of the hall opened, and the ser¬ 
geant-at-arms stepped out and whis¬ 
pered to the boy, who, nodding assent, 
bounded up the steps two at a time; 
and to the bellman in the tower he 
shouted the message, “They’ve signed 
it, signed it! Ring! Ring! Ring!!” 
Thrilled with emotion, the old man 
seized the iron tongue of the bell, and 
hurled it back and forward a hundred 
times, his long queue keeping time to 
its motion. And brave men listened 
gladly, for it rang out the heartless 
and hopeless past, and rang in the 
promise of a helpful and hopeful fu¬ 
ture. 

As will be seen by the inscription on 
an old tombstone, in Philadelphia, the 
patriotic bellringer was fifty-five years 
of age when the old State House bell 
first proclaimed liberty to a waiting 
people. 

1526. A Great Flag. 

During the Fourth Liberty Loan 
campaign there was hung in the Grand 
Central Station, New York, a flag 
measuring 80 by 160 feet and weighing 
400 pounds. It was magnificent and 
yet the tiny silk flag in baby’s hand 
stood for the nation’s glory and by its 
very nearness to the heart touched 
the seat of affection. The effort must 
now be made to keep it clean and 
potent wherever found and wherever 



368 


ALL Fo JRTH-OF-JULY 


flung. May it never touch the ground 
in its ideals. The stars belong above 
the grime and dirt. May peace not 
find us again indifferent to its presense 
nor irreverence mark our demeanor as 
it is carried down the street in military 
or civilian procession. It is a great 
flag whatever its size. May we greatly 
honor it by a worthy life—be fit to 
live under it as ready to die in its 
defence. 

1527. All Fourth-of-July. 

In onie of his lectures Wendell 
Phillips said of “the average Ameri¬ 
can” that “you might cut him up into 
a hundred pieces and boil them all 
down and you will find him Fourth-of- 
July all the way through.” This 
humorous description called forth 
more laughter then than it would now, 
for at that time Independence Day 
was in its observance supremely a 
national institution. Everybody “cele¬ 
brated” in those days. For one twenty- 
four hours the most serious American 
“turned himself loose” and made it a 
duty to be noisy; boasting became a 
virtue. Political differences were for¬ 
gotten and sociological problems ig¬ 
nored. Every village green was em¬ 
bowered for the occasion, and in rural 
districts each picnic grove was swarm¬ 
ing with a happy multitude which had 
come up from the surrounding farms 
to keep the feast. The blacksmith’s 
anvil, doing duty as a cannon, roared 
its loudest, and the omnipresent brass 
band blared and boomed at frequent 
demi-semi-intervals. The “thirty-two 
young ladies dressed in white repre¬ 
senting the states of our glorious 
union”—there were only thirty-two 
then—waved their painted muslin flags 
in smiling coquetry; and from the 
high platform, fitfully shaded, “the 
orator of the day” let the eagle 
scream. 

It was a happy time, full of glorious 
memories and overflowing with cheer¬ 
ful prophecies. It could not be re¬ 
produced to-day because it was the 


expression of a life which has ceased 
to be. It existed not as the “miseen 
scene” of a well devised comedy, but 
as the natural expression of senti¬ 
ments and beliefs of which, as Mr. 
Phillips said, the average American 
was made up. 

1528. Revival of Civic Patriotism. 

There is a new revival. 

It is the revival of civic patriotism. 

It is none the less religious for being 
civic, for the new patriotism is rooted 
in the old piety. The same old re¬ 
ligious spirit that all along has been 
regenerating souls and reforming so¬ 
ciety is rising to the rescue of the city. 
Once more piety and patriotism, citizen¬ 
ship and religion, the interests of the 
community and Christianity, are be¬ 
coming identical. 

There have been such revivals be¬ 
fore. Under Moses and David the 
national spirit and the religious spirit, 
the commonwealth and the kingdom 
of God, were one and the same to the 
people of Israel. Savonarola suc¬ 
ceeded, even in Florence, in uniting 
what God had joined together and 
man had put asunder. From his cell 
and cloister garden and cathedral 
throne he cried to the apostate city, 
“Your sins make me a prophet.” His 
prophecy was so far fulfilled that a 
contemporary writer confessed, “In¬ 
deed, the people of Florence seem to 
have become fools from mere love of 
Christ.” 

John Calvin wrought the redemption 
of Geneva; first, by refusing the 
Eucharist to its citizens because of 
their immortality, and by separating 
church and state—it may be feared too 
far; and then, by making the city it¬ 
self “a normal school of religious 
life.” 

The Cottons and the Mathers, in 
the Old Colony, laid deeply and firmly, 
even if roughly and crudely, the 
spiritual and civic foundations for the 
republic of God that it is ours to 
rear .—Graham Taylor, D.D, 



LOVE AND OLD AGE 


369 


XXIII. OLD PEOPLE’S DAY 

(Observance Optional, by Appointment.) 


1529. Love and Old Age. 

A little kindness and petting is a 
wonderful blessing to children, but 
none the less so to the aged. Those in 
the prime of life are too apt to think 
that the dear old fathers and mothers 
do not care for any special attention. 
It is a sad mistake. None appreciate 
more than they little acts of kindness 
and special attention. Elizabeth Porter 
Gould had the correct idea when she 
beautifully wrote: 

“Put your arms around me— 

There—like that; 

I want a little petting; 

At life’s setting, 

For ’t is hard to be brave 
When feeble age comes creeping. 

And finds me weeping. 

Dear ones gone. 

“Just a little petting 
At life’s setting; 

For I’m old, a'lone, and tired. 

And my long life’s work is done.” 

1530. Golden Sunsets. 

“At evening time it shall be light.” 
What magnificence, what affluence of 
color, what splendor and glory are 
heaped and piled in the western sky at 
the sunset hour. Sometimes we take 
long walks and climb steep hills that 
we may get a wider view of the sun¬ 
set sky, and gazing our fill on its 
radiance, we turn away at last carry¬ 
ing a dream of beauty. 

Loveliest hour of the day is the sun¬ 
set hour. Behind us is the work of 
the day, its burden and its heat, and we 
have reached the hour when there 
comes to us a call from the hermit 
thrush singing in the trees, from the 
shadows softly falling on the velvet 
slopes, from the cattle lowing con¬ 
tentedly as they fare homeward over 
the valley, from the flowers scatter¬ 
ing fragrance on the random breezes 
—an invitation to rest, to meditate, to 
be silent and quiet, and forget that 
24 


there is haste or waste in God’s good 
world. After a long hot day God gives 
us a golden sunset, and then as it 
fades away, the stars twinkle out in 
clusters and groups in the pure ether, 
and stillness replaces noise and, by and 
by, twilight having melted into night, 
the watching angels spread their wings 
over the little children’s cots and 
cradles; peace comes to weary hearts, 
and in palace and hovel our heavenly 
Father giveth his beloved sleep.— Mar¬ 
garet B. Sangster. 

1531. Glimpses Through Life’s 
Windows. 

Once I went up the winding stair¬ 
case of Bunker Hill monument. Its 
great walls shut in the view on all 
sides. I could see only the bit of 
dusty floor at my feet and the cheer¬ 
less walls that surrounded me. But 
as I climbed up the staircase there were 
windows here and there, and through 
these I looked out and caught glimpses 
of a very beautiful world outside,— 
green fields, rich gardens, picturesque 
landscapes, streams flashing like silver 
in the sunshine; the sea yonder, and 
far away, on the other hand, the 
shadowy forms of great mountains. 
How little, how dark and gloomy, 
seemed the close, narrow limits of the 
staircase as I looked out upon the 
illimitable view that stretched from the 
windows! 

This earthly life, hemmed in as it is 
by its limitations and its narrow hori¬ 
zons, is like that tower—a little patch 
of dusty floor, with cheerless walls 
around it. But while we climb heavily 
and wearily up its steep, dark stair¬ 
way, there lies outside the thick walls 
a glorious world, reaching away into 
eternity, filled with the rarest things 
of God’s love. And through the win- 



37 ° 


BORROWED TIME 


dows of revelation we get glimpses 
of the infinite sweep and stretch of 
life beyond this hampered, broken, 
fragmentary existence of earth. Be¬ 
yond earth comes heaven.— Rev . J. R. 
Miller, D.D. 

1532. Growing Old. 

A little more tired at close of day, 

A little less anxious to have our way; 

A little less ready to scold and blame, 

A little more care of a brother’s name; 
And so we are nearing the journey’s end, 
Where time and eternity meet and blend. 

A little more love for the friends of 
youth, 

A little less zeal for established truth; 
A little more charity in our views, 

A little less thirst for the daily news; 
And so we are folding our tents away. 
And passing in silence at close of day 

A little less care for bonds and gold, 

A little more zest in the days of old; 

A broader view and a saner mind, 

A little more love for all mankind; 

And so we are faring adown the way. 
That leads to the gates of a better day. 

A little more leisure to sit and dream, 

A little more real the things unseen; 

A little nearer to those ahead, 

With visions of those long loved and 
dead; 

And so we are going, where all must go, 
To the place the living may never know. 

A little more laughter, a few more tears, 
And we shall have told our increasing 
years; 

The book is closed, and the prayers are 
said 

And we are part of the countless dead. 
Thrice happy if then, some soul can say, 
“I’m better because he passed my way.” 

1533 . Borrowed Time. 

In our city there is a unique organi¬ 
zation known as the Borrowed-Time 
Club. It is composed of men who 
are seventy years of age and upward, 
or in other words those who are living 
on “borrowed time.” They are very 
alert in carrying on their business and 
much interested in all the problems 
and progress of our day. There is no 
organization before which I speak 
which gives keener attention or dis¬ 
cusses the subject afterward more in¬ 
telligently. 

1534. Old Age. 

“Few people,” said La Rochefou¬ 
cauld, “know how to be old.” If true, 


“the more’s the pity,” because the only 
escape from age is through the gates 
of the tomb. “I make no pretense of 
loving old age,” said a venerable friend 
to us recently, “nor can I think any 
man sincere who professes to find it 
satisfying.” Perhaps it is not expected 
by our Heavenly Father that we should 
love it, but it certainly is not beyond 
the power of grace to help us carry 
it cheerfully. 

No age, no condition of life, is 
without its trials; but, God be thanked, 
no age, no condition, is without its 
available compensations. 

1535 * Welcome Home. 

You remember when the great 
statesman, James G. Blaine, after his 
extended tour in Europe, returned to 
his native shores, fleets of ships sailed 
down the harbor to bid him “welcome 
home.” The air was jubilant with 
welcome sounds. Bands of music were 
playing national airs, the crowds were 
shouting from the piers, the cannons 
were sending their salutes far out upon 
the bay, friends were springing upon 
the deck of the great ocean steamer 
and pressing forward to shake the re¬ 
turning statesman by the hand. Sim¬ 
ilar to that brilliant scene will be your 
entry into the New Jerusalem, O 
homeward bound pilgrim of hoary 
years! And if there be joy among 
the angels over one sinner that re- 
penteth, what will be heaven’s joy 
when that pardoned sinner reaches his 
reward, and with robes washed white 
in the blood of the Lamb, goes sweep¬ 
ing through the pearly gates to be with 
God forever?— Rev. C. J. Greenwood. 

1536. Getting Old and Growing 
Old. 

The expression “growing old” 
should be limited to people and plants 
and animals really alive and actually 
growing. An old gate on one hinge, a 
toper dead at the top and already 
measured by the undertaker is not 



HAPPINESS IN OLD AGE 


37i 


“growing” old—they have arrived. 
For them we sing. 

“The times are ripe, yea rotten ripe 
for change.” 

Keep alive and young by choice. 
Dr. Walter L. Tingle says: One day 
as Spurgeon was driving through Lon¬ 
don he observed a building which had 
this sign on it: “Home for Incurable 
Children.” He remarked: “That is 
where I belong.” The fact that Spur¬ 
geon was incurably a child accounts 
for his Christ-like character and for 
his ability to do such a great work 
among children and young people. 

1537. Happiness in Old Age. 

Wilberforce remarked, “I can 
scarcely understand why my life is 
spared so long, except it be to show 
that a man can be as happy without 
a fortune as with one.” And soon 
after, when his only surviving daugh¬ 
ter died, he writes, “I have often heard 
that sailors on a voyage will drink, 
‘Friends astern!’ till they are half 
way over; then. ‘Friends ahead!’ 
With me it has been ‘Friends ahead!’ 
this long time.” 

1538. Honoring Old Age. 

The Germans have a story about a 
little girl named Jeanette, who once 
went out to see a grand review. She 
found a capital place from which to 
see the soldiers pass, when she noticed 
a poor old woman in the crowd, trying 
very hard to get where she could see. 
Jeanette said to herself, “I should like 
to see the soldiers march; but it isn’t 
kind in me to stay in this nice seat, 
and let that old woman stay where she 
can’t see anything. I ought to honor 
old age, and I will.” So she called 
the old woman, and, placing her in the 
nice seat, fell back among the crowd. 
There she had to tiptoe, and peep, and 
dodge about, to catch a glimpse of the 
splendid scene, which she might have 
seen fully and easily is she had kept 
her place. Some of the people said 


she was a silly girl, and laughed at her. 
Jeannette was rewarded in her heart 
for her kindness to old age. A few 
minutes later, a man, covered with lace, 
elbowed his way through the crowd, 
and said to her, “Little girl, will you 
come to her ladyship?” She could not 
imagine who her ladyship was, but 
she followed the man to a scaffold 
within the crowd. A lady met her at 
the top of the stairs, and said, “My 
dear child, I saw you yield your seat 
to the old woman. You acted nobly. 
Now sit down here by me. You can 
see everything here.” Thus Jeanette 
was rewarded a second time for honor¬ 
ing old age. 

1589* White Hairs. 

I sat at my desk writing. In a 
moment of deep thought my hand 
went involuntarily to my head. A 
hair was dislodged by the movement, 
and dropped on the inky page. I 
started to brush it away, but—it made 
me think, for it was as white as snow! 

White hairs! Work tells. 

This is a busy life, and the world 
waits for no man. Wheels turn; 
factories rumble; the streets are 
crowded, even though at Woodlawn 
and Forest and Calvary they are clos¬ 
ing fresh-made graves. The living 
toil on. It is best to do only the things 
that are worth while. 

White hairs ! Time passes. 

Time waits not. We are nearer 
home to-day than yesternight. At 
ten, life looks long, unending. At 
twenty, it is rich with many years to 
come. After thirty, five years is a 
familiar epoch. At forty, we can talk 
in decades. And at fifty we are gird¬ 
ing ourselves for the last quarter of 
the course; we have much to do ere 
the night comes on. “We must work 
the works of him that sent us while 
it is day—the night cometh!” After 
that, ‘the dark/ the pilot’s call—then 
work over yonder. 

White hairs! Memory brightens. 



372 


A WONDER AND A BLESSING 


Through the mist of tears I see a 
face—two of them—patient, loving, 
true. Blessed be God for such a 
mother and father! These silver 
crowns tell of sacrifice, toil, the bur¬ 
den bravely borne, and peace to the 
end. We shall never pay our debt to 
them, unless, perhaps, in eternity we 
can do more for them than our limited 
appreciation and power permitted here. 

White hairs ! We’re growing old. 

Shall we grow old serenely? Shall 
white hairs be “a crown of glory” 
because found “in the way of right¬ 
eousness?” Who fears to grow old? 
It is better farther on. Gladly we 
greet the white messenger, and with 
faith keep on our pilgrimage. 

“Grow old along with me! 

The best is yet to be, 

The last of life, for which the first was 
made: 

Our times are in his hand 
Who saith, ‘A whole I planned; 

Youth shows but half; trust God: see 
all, nor be afraid.’ ” 

— Rev. E. B. Allen. 

1540. Faithfulness in Old Age. 

“Eighty-and-six years,” was Poly¬ 
carp’s answer when required to deny 
the truth, “have I served my Saviour, 
and he hath never done me any harm; 
and shall I deny him now?” 

1541. Hopeful Old Age. 

Mr. Venn, conversing with a stran¬ 
ger, was thus addressed; “Sir, I think 
you are on the wrong side of fifty?” 
“On the wrong side of fifty!” an¬ 
swered Mr. Venn. “No, sir: I am on 
the right side of fifty.” “Surely,” 
the other replied, “you must be turned 
fifty?” “Yes, sir,” added Mr. Venn; 
“but I am on the right side of fifty; 
for, every year I live, I am nearer my 
crown of glory.” 

1542. Learning in Old Age. 

Socrates, at an extreme old age, 
learned to play on musical instruments. 
Cato, at eighty years of age, began to 
learn the Greek language. Petrarch, 


when between seventy and eighty, com¬ 
menced the study of Latin. Ludovico, 
at the great age of one hundred and 
fifteen, wrote the memoirs of his own 
time. Accareo, a great lawyer, being 
asked why he began the study of law 
so late, replied, that indeed he began it 
late, but he should therefore master it 
sooner. Franklin did not commence 
his philosophical pursuits until he had 
reached his fiftieth year. Ogilvie, the 
translater of Homer and Virgil, was 
unacquainted with Latin and Greek till 
he was past fifty. Colbert, the 
famous French minister, at sixty years 
of age returned to his Latin and law 
studies. 

1543 * A Wonder and a Blessing. 

A middle-aged woman went to visit 
an old schoolmate, and the brightest 
spot of her visit was—her old friend’s 
mother. “Dear Mother Gray lives 
with Fanny,” she said afterward. 
“She is ninety-four, bed-ridden for 
more than a year with a broken hip. 
But her mind is clear, and she is really 
happy. She has a little chuckling 
laugh of forty years ago, sees a joke 
and enjoys it. She hasn’t a complaint 
to make. Everybody is good to her, 
she says, and everything that is done 
for her is just right. She is a wonder 
and a blessing in the home. One of 
her sons-in-law says, ‘She is walking 
on the sunny side of the road, just as 
she always did.’ And when I came 
away she said to me, ‘I shall always 
think of you as long as I live/ It 
did my heart good.” 

There, you see, it isn’t such a dread¬ 
ful thing to be almost a hundred years 
old, if you can still be a “wonder and 
a blessing in the home.” 

1544. Almost Home. 

Tead me a little longer, Father! Just 
ahead I see 

The gates of pearl and jasper—and be¬ 
yond them lies my home! 
Sometimes, e’en now, the music of the 
angels floats to me; 



AGE NOT A DESCENT 


373 


While voices that I’ve loved below are 
sweetly calling, “Cornel” 

I hasten on with eager step toward that 
happy land, 

Beyond the gray horizon, where the 
sun of earth goes down; 

Content to know that all the way my 
Father holds my hand, 

And that ere long he’ll give to me an 
everlasting crown. 

—Mrs. E. E. Williams. 

I 545 « When I Grow Old. 

When I grow old 
God grant that every child 
Will feel the youthful texture of my 
soull 

And will not turn away from me 
As from a shade or shrunken vine, 

When I grow old. 

When I grow old, 

God grant that I may have some task 
Which must be done, or some one fare 
the worse— 

That in some corner of the earth 
Some one will need my hand, 

When I grow old. 

— E. R. Peyser. 

1546. Age Not A Descent. 

My heart throbs with pain when I 
hear one speak of life as a descent. 
They say “He or she has passed the 
meridian of life and now descends.” 
It cannot be so with the Christian pil¬ 
grim. With the alpenstock of grace 
he is continually climbing up, up, in 
the ever-increasing effulgence of God’s 
love—as the one who scales the rugged 
steeps of the Apennines, losing sight 
of past difficulties in the vapors be¬ 
low, mounts higher into the glad, pure 
atmosphere, and gains at each upward 
step clearer views of the sun-kissed 
summits. O the blessedness of an old 
age that looks not back on the reced¬ 
ing past, but keeps the eye of faith 
steadily fixed on the glories that are 
to be soon revealed.— G. Flowers. 

1547. Exchaged for Heavenly 

Y outh. 

As the outer man weakens the inner 
man grows stouter day by day; and 
when the time comes for his earthly 
old age to be exchanged for heavenly 
youth, the sunset hour finds him ready. 
He listens to the call with a glad heart. 


He puts his foot into the canoe as it 
sits lightly upon “the clear and lumin¬ 
ous water,” and departs, not reluc¬ 
tantly but rejoicingly. 

“In the glory of the sunset, 

In the purple mists of evening, 

To the regions of the home-wind, 
To the islands of the Blessed, 

To the kingdom of Ponemah, 

To the land of the Hereafter.” 

1548. The Watched-for Ships. 

There is always a suggestion of 
sadness as well as of hopefulness in 
alluding to the watched-for ships and 
their coming home. Old people in 
particular, in speaking of thwarted 
plans and frustrated desires, will say, 
with plaintive sighs, “Ah, well, my 
ships did not come home.” And who 
of us but has said in hope of meeting 
some wish of our own, or even more 
likely that of some loved one, ‘Well 
wait till my ship comes home, then 
see how soon will come the heart’s 
desire.” 

After all there is comfort in being 
old. The worst has generally been 
weathered. Risks are largely of the 
past. Trust in one unfailing pilot is 
the chief requirement now. The fitful 
fever of watching is over. No life 
is a failure, no life is a wreck, that 
with the eye of faith looks across 
the shallow chasms between the Here 
and There, and sees that safe port 
where all blissful dreams shall be fully 
realized, where all missed treasures of 
earth shall be forgotten in the un¬ 
speakable glories of heaven .—Christian 
Work. 

1549. Here We Rest. 

There is a legend of an Indian 
chieftain, who, migrating with his 
tribe, journeyed over high mountains 
and through dismal swamps, and at 
last, having reached a valley fair to 
behold and good to dwell in, threw 
down his burdens, exclaiming, “Ala¬ 
bama !” meaning “Here we rest.” The 
true Christian is journeying toward 



374 


FOREGLEAMS OF HEAVEN 


the real “Alabama,” the valley-home 
of the redeemed, where they lay down 
their burdens and rest. “They rest 
from their labors and their works do 
follow them.” There is such a “home 
of the soul.”— H. 

1550. Summer Evenings. 

It is often said that only a happy 
person can endure the sadness of the 
summer evening. I suppose that this 
impression is not shared by young 
people in general, but those who have 
gone far enough in life’s journey to 
remember the past, more than they 
anticipate the future, understand what 
he means. 

In the summer evening, the frag¬ 
ment of a score carelessly hummed 
by a passer-by, the incidental allusion 
to some old household jest, the scent 
of the lilies on the lawn, of the new- 
mown hay in the meadow, the re¬ 
vival in dress of bygone fashion, the 
sight of the fair girl passing and 
leaning on her lover’s arm, as the 
twain converse in low and confidential 
murmurs, all these have power to re¬ 
call the “touch of the vanished hands 
and the sound of the voice that is 
still.” 

Then comes the feeling, too, borne 
in upon us strongly, of the fruitles- 
ness of earthly endeavor. Never does 
the ideal so slip from our grasp, never 
do our mistakes and defeats so mock¬ 
ingly stare us in our face as on 
some throbbing summer night, when 
the stars bloom like flowers in the 
wide spaces of the sky. 

But courage, friends. From these 
lower levels of discouragement we 
shall ascend. In summer as in autumn, 
by every experience by every disap¬ 
pointment, by every loss, He leads us 
on.— Zion’s Watchman. 

1551. Foregleams of Heaven. 

We often say, after a long and 
tiresome journey, “It was worth while 
to go away just to find out how good 


it is to get home.” Perhaps that is 
why our experience of this world 
is given us—just so that some day we 
may realize how good it is to get home 
to heaven. 

“When we think of our homes,” 
says a recent writer, “we think of 
this and that familiar object—the man- 
tlepiece in the sitting room, the old 
clock in the corner, mother’s rocking 
chair by the mending basket, our own 
little room with the book-case by the 
pleasant window. Would it not be a 
good plan to look ahead to our 
heavenly home and become familiar 
with its nooks and corners? It will 
do no harm to imagine all sorts of 
delightful things, for we know that the 
actual picture will far overpass in 
joyfulness whatever we can imagine.” 
—H. 

1552. Homestead Rights In 
Heaven. 

Let us not forget that every day 
we are helping to make our own 
heaven. A few years ago it was our 
privilege to take a trip to Europe and 
the Orient. Among the passengers 
on our cruise were a bride and groom. 
They had been married just before 
the vessel set sail and seemed exceed¬ 
ingly happy in all their experiences. 
But this we noticed, that at every port 
we entered and in all the cities, they 
were buying things and sending them 
back to America — beautiful rugs, 
choice pieces of antique furniture, 
vases and ornaments, and useful ar¬ 
ticles, too. All these things they were 
sending over to help make their home 
when they should arrive. Do we re¬ 
alize it, that there is a sense in which 
we make our heaven? There are a 
good many people who seem to think 
that heaven is to be a gift, ready¬ 
made, handed over to each of us com¬ 
plete, without any effort or price from 
us. No; a heaven into which we 
have put nothing cannot be a real 
heaven to us. We must send our 
treasures, loves, and thoughts forward 



TONING THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 


375 


into it. We must have learned its 
language, acquired its spirit, and gained 
some homestead rights there, if it is 
to be really a home. The most beauti¬ 
ful house on earth can be made into 
a home only by the life that goes with¬ 
in it. And the same is true of the 


heavenly mansions. They will be to 
us largely what we carry into them. 
We must build and furnish our heaven 
by what we do and are day by day, 
and what we send ahead into it. To 
the aged saint heaven is home. He 
has homestead rights there.— H. 


XXIV. THE SABBATH 

(A Day Wisely Observed in the Early Part of the Summer in the 
Interest of Sabbath Keeping.) 


1553 - Sun of the Soul. 

It is said that some old makers of 
violins never regarded an instrument 
as finished until it had been so placed 
that it was bathed in the light of the 
sun. They thought it could not re¬ 
spond properly to the skill of the 
musician until it had been saturated 
in sunlight. Man is a wondrous in¬ 
strument, and he needs the Sabbath 
in which to let the light of the Sun 
of Righteousness shine upon and 
through him, so as to bring out all the 
spiritual music of his nature. 

1554. Toning the Spiritual Life. 

A traveler tells of having visited a 
painter. “I saw on his table some 
high-colored stones, and I asked him 
what they were for. He said they 
were to keep his eye up to tone.” 
When he was working in pigments in¬ 
sensibly his sense of color was weak¬ 
ened, and by having a pure color near 
him he brought it up again, just as 
the musician by his test fork brings 
himself up to the right pitch. Now, 
every day men need to have a sense 
of the invisible God. No nature is 
of such magnitude that it does not 
need often to be tuned, chorded, borne 
up to the idea of a pure and lofty 
life. And that is one of the great 
uses of the Sabbath. It puts us in 
touch with holy things. It gives us 
a chance to make comparisons with 
the standard. It brings the eye and 


heart and soul up to tone. The effect, 
if we avail ourselves of the possi¬ 
bilities of Sabbath privileges, is to 
start us anew on a higher plane of 
living. It brings the weekly uplift. 
—H. 

I 555- We Are Seven-Day Clocks. 

A manufacturer declared that the 
goods his men turned in the early 
part of the week, right after the 
Sabbath rest, were always better than 
the goods manufactured in the latter 
part of the week when his men were 
tired. The Sabbath comes, and it 
sooths the nerves, and puts out the 
fires of anxiety which have burned all 
the week. The fact is, we are seven- 
day clocks, and we have to be wound 
up once a week or we will run down 
into the grave. The Sabbath is a sav¬ 
ings bank into which we gather up 
our resources of physical and mental 
strength to draw on all the week. That 
man gives a mortgage to disease and 
death who works on the Sabbath, and 
at the most unexpected moment the 
mortgage will be foreclosed and the 
soul ejected from the premises. Every 
gland, every cell, every globule, every 
fingernail crys out: “Remember the 
Sabbath day to keep it holy!” 

1556. An Isle of Safety. 

In one of his volumes Dr. Amos 
R. Wells says: “They are trying out 
in American cities the plan of ‘isles 



376 


KEPT FROM BLINDNESS 


of safety,’ which consists of slightly 
elevated regions in the center of in¬ 
tersecting streets, protected by posts. 
In these spaces, about fifteen feet 
long and five feet wide, pedestrians 
may take refuge, and gather breath 
in the midst of their precarious transit 
between dashing teams and in front of 
wildly rushing automobiles. 

“We need such breathing spaces all 
through our overswift and tumul¬ 
tuous modern life, We need little 
vacations scattered through our ar¬ 
duous days. We need little recrea¬ 
tions to brighten our routine; little 
avocations to relieve our vocations; 
little prayers and hopes and dreams 
to rest us from our worries. He is 
a wise man who establishes such 
isles in his life. They will be safety 
spots that will preserve and prolong 
his life.” 

The Sabbath, God-given and espe¬ 
cially valuable, is a very blessed isle 
of safety in the midst of our busy 
weeks. 

1557 - For Wide, Clear View. 

When a gentleman was inspecting a 
house in Newcastle, with a view to 
hiring it, the landlord took him to an 
upper window, and said, “You can see 
Durham Cathedral from this window 
on Sunday.” “Why on Sunday above 
any other day?” inquired the man. 
“Because on that day there is no. 
smoke from those tall chimneys.” 
Blessed is the Sabbath when the earth- 
smoke of care and turmoil no longer 
beclouds our view. We need our 
Sabbaths for the wide, clear view— 
for the great things of the soul. 

1558. Kept From Blindness. 

A gentleman who was passing some 
mines observed a great number of 
mules in a field. He asked a little 
boy why there were so many mules 
there. “These -mules are worked in 
the mines through the week,” re¬ 


plied the boy, “and they are brought 
up into the light on Sundays to keep 
them from going blind.” Sunday an¬ 
swers the same purpose with men. 
A blind dead, tired body, and a blind, 
starved soul are the result of Sundays 
ill spent. 

1559 - We Need the Day. 

Some one asked a Rocky Mountain 
locomotive engineer, as he was riding 
with him, “Why do you switch off 
your locomotive on a side track and 
take another ?”•—as he saw he was 
about to do—“it seems to be a straight 
route!” He replied: “Oh, we have 
to let the locomotive stop and cool 
off, or the machinery would very soon 
break down!” The manufacturers of 
salt were told if they allowed their 
kettles to cool one day in seven, they 
would have immense repairs to make; 
but the experiment was made and the 
contrast came, and it was found that 
those manufacturers who allowed their 
kettles to cool once a week had less re¬ 
pairs to make than those who kept the 
furnaces in full blast and the kettles 
always hot. What does all this mean? 
It means that intellectual men and 
dumb beast and dead machinery cry 
out for the Lord’s day. 

1560. Accomplish More By Rest. 

It has been proved by many experi¬ 
ments that workmen who labor seven 
days in the week accomplish less in the 
long run, than those who rest on Sun¬ 
day. 

I have read that when the California 
gold fever broke out in 1849, those 
crossing the plains who rested on 
Sundays arrived first at their destina¬ 
tion, while great numbers of the oxen 
of those who did not take their weekly 
rest died from fatigue, and they were 
left utterly helpless until the Sabbath¬ 
keeping toilers took pity upon them 
and returned to their help.— H. 



SOME ONE PROSECUTE ME 


377 


1561. In Tune With Heavenly 

Things. 

I have read that the air of the 
famous Kentucky cave has a peculiar 
power of stimulating the senses. After 
the visitor has been in it for an hour 
or two, and returns to the open air, 
he can discern the scents of the flowers, 
trees, and grasses in an extraordinary 
manner. So new perceptions of spirit¬ 
ual things will come if by suitable 
Sabbath observance we draw aside 
from the world, and get into the quiet 
of God’s presence. 

“Rather a dull day, auntie,” said a 
preacher to an old black saint of his 
congregation at the close of a dreary, 
rainy and cold Sunday. “Why, no!” 
she replied. “Bress the Lord, massa 
minister, de ole woman’s been all over 
the New Jerusalem to-day.” Sunday 
is a good day to get acquainted with 
the sights and sounds, the occupations 
and the spirit of the New Jerusalem. 
—H. 

1562. Trivial Excuses. 

How trivial are the ways some 
people try to cheat themselves out of 
this great boon—the Sabbath . 

Speaking in London, Canon Ottley 
told an amusing story illustrating some 
folks’ idea of keeping the Sabbath. A 
Scotchman, one Sunday, went into his 
back yard to mend a barrow. The loud 
banging which accompanied the driv¬ 
ing in of the nails brought his wife to 
the door. “Donald, Donald,” she cried, 
“What are ye about on the Sabbath?” 
“I tell ye, I must mend the barrow. 
I want to use it,” answered her hus¬ 
band. “Ye must not,” was her reply. 
“What’ll the neighbors say? Or, if 
ye do, ye must use screws. It’s the 
Lord’s Day.” 

1563. Some One Prosecute Me. 

A coal dealer found that competition 
in business had robbed him of his 
Sunday rest. “I don’t so much as get 


time to go to early mass.” said he, 
“and I am compelled to keep busy 
from morning till night. I can’t re¬ 
fuse them. If I do, they will quit me 
altogether, and I shall lose my busi¬ 
ness. I wish to heaven that someone 
would prosecute me 1 ” Because at 
liberty to work, he felt, under the cir¬ 
cumstances, compelled to work, and 
desired the law, even at the expense 
of prosecution, to secure him the 
liberty of rest. 

A man’s doing business on the Sab¬ 
bath does not actually compell his 
competitors to do likewise, but it does 
inflict a loss on those who refuse. All 
together, they sell but little more in 
seven days than they would sell in 
six, and their profits are less because 
their expenses are increased. But if 
some do not sell, those who do draw 
away a part of their custom and thus 
inflict loss on them. Of course a 
man of Christian principle will suffer 
the loss rather than violate the Sab¬ 
bath in self-defense, but he has a right 
to call on the state to protect him 
from that loss. Hence the principle 
that has been laid down that the 
liberty of rest for each is dependent 
on a law of rest for all. 

1564. Degeneration By Non-Ob¬ 
servance. 

The way the Sabbath is observed 
determines the morals of individuals 
and of the community. If you can 
know how the Sabbaths are observed 
in any community you then know what 
the conditions of the morals of that 
community are. So, too, with the in¬ 
dividual. The Sabbath saves the soul 
from utter materialism, from degener¬ 
ation. 

There is a strange old legend that 
comes from the days of Solomon. Ac¬ 
cording to the old legend Solomon on 
his way to visit the Queen of Sheba 
passed through a valley where dwelt 
a peculiar tribe of monkeys. He in¬ 
quired as to their history. He was in- 



378 


WIND THE CLOCK 


formed that they were descendants of 
a colony of Jews who by habitual 
neglect of the Sabbath had degenerated 
to the condition of monkeys. 

There is an important truth con¬ 
tained in that legend.— H . 

1565. The Sunday Stone. 

In one of the English coal mines 
there is the constant formation of new 
rock, as the moisture drips from the 
ceiling of the cavern to the floor. The 
water is heavily charged with lime in 
solution, which it deposits as it falls. 
When mining is going on the coal dust 
flies in the air and stains the sediment. 
This gives a dark layer in the mass. 
Thus it curiously comes to pass that 
night and day, as the workmen rest or 
labor, becomes marked with alternate 
strata of different colors. Of course, 
due W the longer period that work 
has ceased, the Sabbath always ap¬ 
pears with a broad white deposit 
larger than any of the rest. So the 
miners call this the “Sunday-stone.” 

Well might men thus keep tally of 
their days and reckon God’s Sabbath 
as white days—holy, happy, home days, 
the purest and dearest.— C. S. Robin¬ 
son, D.D. 

1566. The Family Day. 

One chief gift and luxury of the 
Sabbath, which makes it the “pearl of 
days” in many households, is, that on 
that day the father is home with his 
children. At a recent meeting of the 
Pennsylvania Sabbath Association, a 
representative of the Barber’s Union 
of Pittsburgh, told of a barber who, 
before the shops were closed on Sun¬ 
day, never saw his children awake 
from the beginning of the week to the 
end. The first Sunday he spent at 
home he heard the children inquire, 
“Mamma, who is that man?” While 
few fathers may be such utter stran¬ 
gers in their own households, yet the 
incident will illustrate the fact of the 
intimacy of the relation between the 


Sabbath and any true type of family 
life. It also gives abundant reason 
why every true husband and father, 
whatever his religious convictions or 
lack of them, ought to be a strong 
defender of the Sabbath and its ob¬ 
servance, and the bitter enemy of any 
who would break down the barriers 
which separate the day from all others. 
—H. 

1567. Lord of the Sabbath. 

Once, at Stockholm, Jenny Lind was 
requested to sing on the Sabbath at 
the king’s palace, on the occasion of 
some great festival. She refused, and 
the king called personally upon her, 
in itself a high honor, and, as her 
sovereign, commanded her attendance. 
Her reply was, “There is a higher 
King, sir, to whom I owe my first 
allegiance,” and she refused to be 
present. 

1568. Sabbath Bondage. 

A devout Scottish minister has told 
of a house at which he stopped and 
spent the Sabbath when he was in 
northern Scotland. The day was rainy 
and close, and he finally suggested 
to the woman of the house that the 
window of the little parlor, might be 
raised to admit some fresh air. 
“Mon,” said the old woman, with 
stern disapproval written plainly on 
her rugged face, “dinna ye ken, that 
ye nae can hae fresh air in this hoose 
on the Sabbath ?”•— Youth’s Companion. 

1569. Wind the Clock. 

When the eight-day clock one morn¬ 
ing struck the hour very slowly and 
faintly, it attracted the attention of 
its owner, who dropped his book, 
looked up, and listened. “I thought I 
wound it only two or three days ago,” 
he remarked “but it certainly sounds 
as if the striking part of it were 
pretty nearly run down.” Small 
Donald . was interested; he watched, 
questioned, and remembered. 



OBSERVE AND CONSERVE 


379 


The next Sunday morning Uncle 
John was so comfortably and pleas¬ 
antly occupied with his reading that 
he was reluctant to lay it aside when 
his wife inquired whether he intended 
going to church. “Oh, I—suppose so,” 
he answered slowly and so hesitatingly 
that Donald eyed him wonderingly. 

“Why, that sounds as if the meeting 
side of you was pretty nearly i run 
down, Uncle John!” he exclaimed. 
Aunt Grace laughed, while Uncle John 
flushed and pushed the tempting maga¬ 
zine hastily aside. “Maybe, Donald, 
maybe,” he admitted; “but if it is, 
we’ll wind it up again and get a 
little stronger movement. Neither 
clocks nor people are of much use 
when the springs that ought to keep 
them going are neglected.” 

1570. The House Dark. 

A Jewish rabbi’s parable tells of 
seven brothers who lived together. 
Six worked and the seventh cared for 
the house, having the meals ready and 
the house bright for his six brothers 
in the evening. But the six said that 
the seventh must work, too. So in the 
evening they returned home and found 
the house dark and no meal prepared. 
Then they saw how foolish they had 
been, and quickly restored the old 
way. The Sabbath is a day among 
the seven which provides light, com¬ 
fort, and good for the others. If it 
is driven out to work, the other days 
will all miss its blessing.— Dr. J. R. 
Miller. 

1571. Observe and Conserve. 

It seems a little matter for you, 
my friend, to trade with a newsboy on 
Sabbath morning; but think of the 
professing Christian people all over 
our country who are corrupting the 
rising generation that way. The ex¬ 
changing of a nickel for a newspaper 
is as much to that newsboy as the 
sale of a corner lot would be to you. 
And tens of thousands are being thus 


educated for larger forms of Sabbath 
breaking when they grow up. 

It is not enough, however, to hew 
to the line ourselves in the keeping of 
the Sabbath: it devolves upon us also 
to see that other people keep it. For 
it is a true proposition that “The 
privilege of Sabbath observance for 
one depends upon the law of Sabbath 
observance of all.” That proposition 
was laid down in an International 
Convention of Labor in Geneva years 
ago: and a moment’s thought will 
show the reasonableness of it.— Rev . 
D. J. Burrell, D.D. 

1572. God’s Dyke. 

The Dutch call the Sabbath “God’s 
Dyke.” They know from long ex¬ 
perience what their sea walls have 
done for their nation in rolling back 
the encroaching ocean, hungry to 
swallow up their low-lying land. In 
the same way they see the spirit of 
secularism and worldliness ever wait¬ 
ing a chance to swallow up all the best 
things in national and individual life 
and character, and they rightly believe 
that the Christian Sabbath is the one 
great rampart between these things 
and their destruction. 

Any one who stops for a moment 
of sober reflection, cannot fail to 
realize the menace of a disintegrating 
dike—whether it be one of sea-walls 
or soul-walls. Voltaire said that as 
long as the Sabbath remains the 
Christian religion could not be de¬ 
stroyed. A San Francisco visitor tells 
of seeing an electric church sign 
which blazoned forth the legend, 
“Keep Your Sundays for the Great 
Things of the Soul.” A Massachu¬ 
setts supreme court judge says that 
at one time he gave up church-going, 
giving his Sabbaths to books and other 
interests; but after a while he be¬ 
came conscious of a deterioration in 
his moral nature and he resumed 
church attendance. 




380 


TESTING THE COMPASS 


1573 - Wilbur Wright’s Answer. 

The Wright brothers, the famous 
aviators (of whom one died in 1913), 
are clean-limbed and clean-minded. 
From their father, good old Bishop 
Wright, they inherit two sterling 
traits—character and a shrewd busi¬ 
ness sense. When Wilbur was at the 
high tide of his first foreign success, 
and was acclaimed everywhere as “the 
emperor of the air,” the king of Spain 
came to see his machine. An orderly 
approached and said, “His majesty 
would like to see you fly.” “I am 
very sorry,” was the reply, “but we 
never fly on Sunday.” 

1574. The Weekly Mountain-Top. 

If a person when lost can gain some 
height that will give a wide outlook, 
he may be able to get his bearings. 
In the unending grind of daily routine 
there is danger of losing sight of the 
great aim that should be in it all. Life 
may seem more like a treadmill than 
a progress. The one day for other 
uses gives a chance for a look at 
life’s meaning and goal, and so may 
give courage and energy for the 
days ahead. 

1575. Testing the Compass. 

The safety of a ship and its pas¬ 
sengers calls for the testing of the 
compass and for freeing that from the 
influence of anything that might make 
it swerve from pointing to the pole. 
During our contact with the world of 
business and social life conscience 
comes under a sway that may easily 
escape notice unless the best use is 
made of the weekly opportunity for 
more careful testing by God’s stand¬ 
ards. 

1576. Excuse, Not a Reason. 

One man says: *T do not go to 
church on Sunday because I was never 
taught to go when I was young, so 
I did not form the habit.” Another 
man says: “I do not go to church on 


Sunday because I was forced to go 
when I was young and it grew dis¬ 
tasteful to me.” One excuse is as 
good as another when you do not 
want to do a thing.— Watchman-Bx- 
aminer. 

1577. Interests of the poor. 

Professor George Adam Smith, 
discussing the attitude of the Hebrew 
prophets towards their national Sab¬ 
bath, said, “The interests of the Sab¬ 
bath are the interests of the poor; 
the enemies of the Sabbath are the 
the enemies of the poor.” This sen¬ 
tence ought to be carefully considered 
at the present time, when so many 
efforts are being made to destroy 
the sanctity of our national day of 
rest. 

1578. An Aviator’s Resolve. 

C. P. Rogers, the aviator, so it is 
reported, has determined not to again 
make any aerial flights on Sunday. In 
spite of the protest from some of the 
Christian churches of Pasadena he 
finished his flight to the ocean on Sun¬ 
day, but received a bad fall. While 
in the hospital recovering from his 
bruises he wrote one of the pastors of 
the city, “I am through flying on 
Sunday. All my falls have been on 
Sunday. The last time many people 
tried to prevent the flight. Many of 
them offered prayer to keep me from 
going up. I believe that when a thing 
is so important that it calls for prayer 
it is time something was done. I’ll not 
fly on Sunday again!” It is fortunate 
his life was spared until he came to 
his senses. 

1579. Sweet Day of Rest. 

Many saintly characters bear wit¬ 
ness to the fact that, “as the flower 
is to the plant, so is Sunday to the 
home, envolving all its elements in one 
fair blossom.” 

One of the princely religious 
characters of Scotland for the past 



THE HABIT OF FALLING 


38 i 


fifty years has been the Rev. Dr. 
Alexander Whyte, .whose life has been 
one of keen study and profitable 
ministry. This scholarly preacher 
said when giving a New Year exhorta¬ 
tion in 1913: “If my experience of 
the Lord’s Day is of any value or any 
interest, to any of you—well, here it 
is. I have had a long lifetime’s ex¬ 
perience of, on the whole, a somewhat 
scrupulously kept Lord’s Day. And 
that day, so kept, has been to me one 
of my chief blessings in a life full of 
such blessings.” 

Beecher rightly said, “Through the 
week we go down into the valleys of 
care and shadow. Our Sabbaths 
should be hills of light and joy in 
God’s presence; and so, as time rolls 
by, we shall go on from mountain- 
top to mountain-top, till at last we 
catch the glory of the gate, and enter 
in to go no more out for ever.” 

“In holy duties let the day 
In holy comforts pass away; 

How sweet a Sabbath thus to spend 
In hope of one that ne’er shall end.” 

1580. The Habit of Falling. 

That was a keen answer of a con¬ 
verted heathen in Syria, whose em¬ 
ployer ordered him to work on the 
Sabbath, but he firmly refused; and 
his employer attempted to argue with 
him, saying, “Does not your Master 
say, that if a man has an ox or an 
ass that falls into a pit on the Sabbath 
day, he may pull him out?” “Yes,” 
replied the Christian servant, “but if 
the ass has a habit of falling into the 
same pit every Sabbath day, then the 
owner should either fill up the pit or 
sell that ass.”— A. B. Kittridge, D.D. 

1581. More Than a Rest Day. 

A minister, says the Rev. Edwin 
S. Stacker, of Ottawa, Kansas, ob¬ 
serving a lad starting for the river on 
a Sunday morning, said, “My boy, the 
Sabbath day was given you for rest.” 
The boy quickly replied, “I ain’t 


tired!” We must find other reasons 
for Sabbath observance, especially for 
folks who are “not tired.” There are 
other reasons—a great many of them. 

1582. Not Open on Sunday. 

A Boston church-member, having 
been delayed about calling for his 
washing, went to the Chinese laundry 
on Sunday morning, to find this notice 
on the door: “This place not open on 
Sunday. I a Christian.” 

1583. The Lord’s Day. 

This is the beautiful way to think 
of the Lord’s Day. It is the shadow 
of Christ on the hot highway of time. 
We pause in it as in a shelter from 
the heat, and are refreshed. In pro¬ 
portion as we carry the spirit of it 
into all days do they also become 
Lord’s Days, and yield us the same 
refreshment and peace as the Sabbath 
Day .—Robert B. Speer. 

1584. Had We Though of This. 

Some one tells us the story of a 
man who was trying to get his negro 
servant to do some unnecessary work 
on Sunday. He reminded the servant 
that Jesus had said it was lawful to 
pull an ass or an ox out of a pit on 
the Sabbath. “Yes, massa,” was the 
ready reply, “but not if it fell it on 
Saturday,”— Rev. J. R. Miller, D.D. 

1585. Making Sabbath Unholy. 

Recently The Ohio State Journal of 
Columbus, O., one of the oldest and 
most influential daily publications in 
that state, printed the following lead¬ 
ing editorial entitled “Making Sabbath 
Unholy.” 

A sign reading: “Dancing every 
Sunday afternoon from 4 to 7. You 
are cordially invited to attend,” is 
posted in front of a well-known cafe 
in New York City. At this rate, 
how long will it be before Sunday is 
driven out of American life? Sun- 



382 


THE ACCOUNT STILL OPEN 


day is not near what it was thirty or 
forty years ago. Even among re¬ 
ligious people there is a growing in¬ 
difference. Of course, the Sabbath 
was made for man. So were virtue, 
temperance, honesty, faith, and love; 
but of what use are they unless they 
make the life purer and nobler? The 
Sabbath was made for man, but for 
what? For dancing, flirting, drinking, 
indolence, gossip and such other prac¬ 
tices for spending time? That is what 
some people think; and if they are 
right, God would not have put the 
Sunday plank in the decalogue. 

Intelligent people should learn the 
difference between happiness and 
pleasure. One is for the spirit, the 
other for the body. No man can 
be a Christian who doesn’t recognize 
the difference and apply it to his life. 
Happiness is intellectual, spiritual, up¬ 
lifting; pleasure is sensual, unsound, 
and degrading. Sunday was made for 
the happiness of man, not for his 
pleasure. He is a mere mud man that 
doesn’t know the difference. 

1586. The Account Still Open. 

An infidel, boasting in a published 
letter that he had raised two acres of 
Sunday corn, which he had intended 
to devote to the purchase of infidel 
books, adds, ‘‘All the work done on 
it was done on Sunday, and it will 
yield some seventy bushels to the 
acre, so I don’t see but that nature 
or Providence has smiled upon my 
Sunday work, however the Bible may 
say that work done on Sunday never 
prospers. My corn tells another 
story." To this the editor of an 
agricultural paper replies; “If the 
author of this shallow nonsense had 
read the Bible half as much as he has 
the works of its opponents he would 
have known that the Great Ruler of 
the universe does not always square 
up his accounts with mankind in the 
month of October.— Mrs. B. G. Dower. 


1587. Puritanism no Scare. 

No Christian to-day, and no patriot, 
should be frightened by the bugbear 
of “Puritanism." Puritanism is al¬ 
ways a battle against impuritanism, 
and even with its extreme features is 
better than its foes. Modern Puritan¬ 
ism has freed itself from some of the 
rigidities of the older Puritanism. It 
is the child that has inherited the best 
traits of its ancestors, and is to-day 
the strongest conservative force in 
society .—Christian Endeavor World. 

1588. Keep Your Sabbaths for the 

Great Things of the Soul. 

Is the following an example of aver¬ 
age Sabbath keeping in Christian 
homes ? 

A minister who was supplying a 
pulpit not his own was entertained 
in the home of one of the prominent 
members of the church. The condi¬ 
tions of the home life impressed him 
deeply; and although he was careful 
not to disclose anything that could 
identify the family, he referred to the 
Sabbath spent in their home as among 
the dreariest and least profitable in his 
whole experience. 

The family, straggling down to 
breakfast Sabbath morning, brought 
with them the gossip acquired at var¬ 
ious places on Saturday night. Two 
of them had been at the theater, one 
had been to a party, most of them had 
been out late. More than one of the 
household began the day with a head¬ 
ache. 

On the breakast table were three 
Sunday newspapers. On these the 
different members of the family 
pounced and were soon hidden behind 
them. 

Only the father and the mother 
went to church; the younger people 
were “too tired,” and did not care 
to dress. 

After the morning service the min¬ 
ister found the newspapers well shaken 
out and scattered. There was hardly 



GENERAL GRANT’S OBSERVANCE 


3 8 3 


a chair that did not contain one or 
more parts of one or another of them. 

After Sabbath dinner the papers 
were secured again, and creased and 
recreased in weary quest for new 
sensations. 

Without questioning the morality 
of such a Sabbath, what may we not 
say of the pity of it? Is the soul of 
man so mean, so sordid, that not one 
hour or one day in the week can be 
saved for an acquaintance with the 
better things of literature and of life 
and for the higher ministrations of the 
Spirit ? 

1589. The Sabbath Essential. 

We cannot live physically, and we 
cannot live spiritually, unless we keep 
the Sabbath. Men and nations in all 
ages have put this to the test, and, by 
attempting to 'do without a Sabbath 
day, have wrecked their lives. No 
human being can stand the strain of 
seven days’ work in every week with¬ 
out breaking down under it. Every 
man can do more work in six days 
than he can in seven. And it matters 
not at all what kind of vocation is 
his; it is as true of the man whose 
six days are given directly to religious 
work as of the man whose work is 
called secular: from both of these 
Nature demands her day of cessation. 

1590. Not Too Much Conscience. 

Nicholas Biddle once had for a pri¬ 
vate secretary a Christian young man, 
whom he wished to keep at work on 
the Sabbath. The secretary objected 
to working on the Lord’s Day. “I 
shall discharge you,” said his employer, 
“if you do not conform to my wishes.” 
The secretary was poor, and had, 
moreover, a widowed mother depend¬ 
ent upon him; but rather than violate 
his conscience by doing what he con¬ 
sidered wrong, he gave up his place. 
A day or two after, Mr. Biddle was 
in the company of some gentlemen 
who proposed to start a new bank, and 


the questioning was, where they should 
find a suitable man to be its cashier? 
“I know of one,” said Mr. Biddle, and 
he recommended to them his late 
secretary, saying, “He had too much 
conscience for my work, but none too 
much for the more responsible office 
you have.” And through his recom¬ 
mendation the place was given to him. 

1591. General Grant’s Observance. 

When General Grant was in Paris, 
the President of the Republic invited 
him to attend the Sunday races. He 
knew that to refuse an invitation from 
the President of France, would be con¬ 
sidered especially discourteous by the 
French people, and yet he politely de¬ 
clined the invitation, saying, “It is 
not in accord with the custom of my 
country, or with the spirit of my 
religion to spend Sunday in that way. 
I will go to the house of God.” 

1592. The Year Round. 

“It is estimated that since the in¬ 
troduction of the Sunday newspaper 
not less than 150,000 compositors and 
pressmen and others are kept at work 
seven days in the week, 365 days in 
the year. A reporter was asked, not 
long since, ‘Do you have one-seventh 
of your time for rest?’ ‘No,’ said he, 
‘nor one-seventy-seventh. We have 
no time, regularly given, that we can 
call our own!’ ”—David J. Burrell, 
D.D. 

1593. The Real Reason. 

A group of earnest Christian busi¬ 
nessmen were descussing how to get 
more men to attend the Sunday morn¬ 
ing service in their own church. They 
expressed their surprise that men did 
not come to hear the stirring, thought¬ 
ful, and fundamental messages pre¬ 
sented by their minister. One out¬ 
spoken man summed up the reasons 
in this terse sentence: “The upshot of 
the whole matter is that men will take 



384 FROM FLOWER-GARDEN TO POTATO-PATCH 


time to do the things they are vitally 
interested in.” 

He followed his remark by telling 
the story of a man who is vice-presi¬ 
dent of a ten-million-dollar corpora¬ 
tion who took a train at one o’clock 
in the morning at considerable personal 
inconvenience in order that he might 
get back home Sunday morning in 
time to take charge of the men’s Bible 
class in his church. When the busi¬ 
ness man with whom he was negotiat¬ 
ing expressed surprise that he should 
go to this trouble, he said, “I wouldn’t 
miss it for anything if I can possibly 
help it .”—Christian Endeavor World . 

1594. “The Sabbath was Made for 
Automobiles.” 

The Sabbath was made for auto¬ 
mobiles would be the modern version 
of Christ’s words in Mark 2 :27. It’s 
not a bit of use to kick against the 
automobile. Either it is here to stay, 
or it isn’t. A few years ago some 
ministers were preaching against the 
bicycle because it robbed the Sunday 
morning congregation. Now where is 
the bicycle? 

Who knows but the air-ship will 
displace the automobile to as great 
an extent? 

The trouble is not with the thing, 
but with men. All these inventions 
are simply tests of our balance of 
mind. Human nature is matured by 
having some wrong tendency to fight 
down, some excess to guard against. 

Do you believe that fewer people go 
to church now than before the bicycle 
was invented? I don’t. We must ap¬ 
praise these things as they come, and 
put them in their proper places. We 
will work out for ourselves a normal 
rest-day. 

The Sabbath was not made for the 
“joy-rider,” nor for the “highflyer,” 
but for man. Not a man but all men. 
And we shall work out this problem, 
as we are trying to work out every 
one, so as to give all classes and con¬ 


ditions of men a fair chance. We are 
not going in for arbitration and “trust- 
busting” for humanity’s sake, and at 
the same time fostering a Sabbath 
that will make one set of men cater 
to the pleasure-seeking of another set 
seven days in the week. 

The Sabbath that was “made for 
man” will be a sane, reasonable, fair, 
restful, uplifting Sabbath.— Rev. John 
F. Cowan, D.D. 

1595. From Flower-garden to 
Potato-patch. 

The Sabbath was made for man, for 
his benefit, to give him leisure from 
his toil, to enable him to straighten 
his back and look up to heaven and 
remember that he is a spiritual being. 
This one day, which God of old 
claimed, was meant to teach us that 
all days are His, and worship on the 
Sabbath points to the truth that every 
act of our lives may be a divine serv¬ 
ice. 

The Sabbath brings physical and 
mental rest, moral and spiritual cul¬ 
ture, home joys and fellowships, re¬ 
spite from the strain of toil, and an 
opportunity for works of mercy. But 
beyond these blessings the Sabbath 
keeps our faces turned in the right 
direction, seeking heavenly things. 
Lord Napier was discussing the ques¬ 
tion of Sabbath-observance with a 
friend, “I don’t see any harm in a 
man’s spending a few hours at work 
in his flower-garden on Sunday; it 
seems to me that he might gain great 
good from it.” His lordship replied, 
“Yes, but when a man begins in his 
flower-garden he is likely to end in 
his potato-patch.” That is the point-. 
A man can get great good out of his 
flower-garden if his soul is attuned to 
worship. The moment he uses the 
Sabbath for mere amusement, for 
pleasure, for planning business pro¬ 
jects, he is on the way to the potato- 
patch. 



THE SUPPLY DEPOT 


385 


Let us beware lest, like Esau, we 
barter the boundless spiritual bless¬ 
ings which the Sabbath brings for a 
mess of earthly pottage.— Rev. R. P. 
Anderson. 

1596. Compelling Sunday Work. 

There is a side to Sabbath-breaking 
which is not so strongly emphasized 
as it might be, namely, how one man’s 
wilful breaking of it compels another’9. 
The thousands who use Sundays for 
excursions make other thousands work. 
The thousands who insist on Sunday 
newspapers make thousands of boys 
deliver them on Sunday. Some years 
ago an article in a Scottish magazine 
on the moral side of golf, called at¬ 
tention to the growing custom of tak¬ 
ing boys to the golf links Sundays for 
the whole day, thus depriving them of 
religious training. Not long ago the 
pastor of a suburban church com¬ 
plained that the golf links were deplet¬ 
ing his Sunday school. “Nine-tenths 
of those who enter prison were started 
on their way by Sabbath-breaking, 
largely by Sunday sport.” 

1597. The Supply Depot. 

The railroad companies make abun¬ 
dant provision for supplying their 
engines with fuel and water. No 
engineer needs to have a dead engine 
if he will stop at the coal-stations and 
water-tanks. Sabbath days are the 
supply-depots, which God has provided 
for the Christian. 

1598. Make Sabbath Keeping a 

Habit. 

The man who thinks he can atone 
for six days’ wickedness by one day of 
Sabbath-keeping is sadly deceived. 
God does not permit such a sinful use 
of the six days. All the time belongs 
to him. He gives us six days to pur¬ 
sue our secular vocations, but not in 
sinful ways. The need for rest runs 
through all nature. If machines or 
animals are worked seven days in the 
25 


week, they will not work as many 
hours by far as if allowed to rest 
one day in the seven. The razor of 
the barber shop demands rest, and will 
refuse to work without it; and the 
razor is but a type of the universe, 
the body and soul of men included. 
The Sabbath should be the most royal 
day of the week. It lifts us more 
closely to the Prince of Peace, and 
the King of Kings. If the keeping 
of the Sabbath correctly has not yet 
became a habit, the consecration is 
not as deep and as thorough as it 
ought to be .—Religious Telescope . 

1599. Holiday-Mania. 

Undue emphasis is put to-day upon 
the moral influence of play on the 
child. Instead of “Lab or are est orare,” 
it reads to-day in plain English, “To 
play is to pray.” A prominent “play¬ 
ground expert” expresses this theory 
in the words, “salvation by play.” 

We learned years ago that “all work 
and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ 
The modern conception of our re¬ 
formers is, “Little work and much 
play makes Jack a good boy and a 
useful citizen.” This is not necessar¬ 
ily true. Far from it. Play may make 
a child both lazy and useless. If play 
invades the sanctity of the Lord’s Day, 
as it is now attempting to do, ex¬ 
cluding moral and religious training, 
it may make him also irreverent and 
vicious. We need to put some of the 
emphasis that is now placed on “play” 
on the word “pray”; that is, on moral 
and religious training in the home and 
the school. To overestimate the ad¬ 
vantages, which are many, of sport, 
games, and amusements for the com¬ 
ing generation is certainly unwise. 
When brought into the Lord’s Day, 
they become a positive peril accord¬ 
ing to the uniform teaching of history. 
The holiday mania may prove itself 
in our age as serious a calamity to 
social life as it was in the day of 



386 


WORK A CURE FOR DOUBT 


Charles II of England, who had the 
“Book of Sports” read along with the 
Bible on Sunday morning. 

1600. Admiral Farragut and the 

Sabbath. 

Admiral Watson said in reference 
to Sabbath desecration: “That grim 
old seafighter, Farragut, was a strict 
observer of the Sabbath, and declared 
that the non-observance of the day 
was the greatest peril of this country. 
1 accompanied him to Italy after the 
war. When we were in Rome, a 
reception was arranged for him on 
Sabbath evening by an American long 
resident in Rome, who had become 
foreignized. When the invitation 
came, the Admiral was beside himself 
with anger, and sent her word, ‘that 
to invite an American to a reception 
on the Sabbath was an insult.’ ” 
Let Christian people stand for the 
Sabbath with the sturdy and God¬ 
honoring spirit that characterized 
Admiral Farragut. 

1601. Japanese Convictions and 

Courtesy. 

The Spokane Chamber of Com¬ 
merce had an experience with a visit¬ 
ing Japanese commercial delegation 
which is not likely to be forgotten in 


that city. They had arranged a long 
programme, including a dinner and 
theatre party for the Sunday of the 
visit. The Japanese delegation court¬ 
eously declined these invitations on the 
ground that they had too much re¬ 
spect for the American Lord’s Day 
to accept them. Many of them at¬ 
tended church service, and one of 
them, an officer in a Kumi-ai church 
in Japan, expressed his wish “to be 
true to his convictions while abroad.” 
—The Congrationalist. 

1602. Take Sabbath Rest, But 
Don’t Be Lazy. 

The junction of Fleet and Farring- 
don Streets, at the foot of Ludgate 
Hill, is one of the most crowded 
thoroughfares of London, two streams 
of travel meeting there. In the center 
of that junction there used to be a 
solid oaken bench with a high back, 
and on it the inscription, “Rest, but do 
not loiter.” On that bench thousands 
of people every day used to rest their 
weary limbs. Like that poor man’s 
bench in seething London stands the 
ordinance of the Sabbath, and over 
its blessed portal is written, “Rest, 
but do not lounge or loiter.”— T. L. 
Cuyler, D.D. 


XXV. LABOR DAY 


(First Monday in September.) 


1603. Laziness the Original Sin. 

Dr. Storrs tells of an Indian who 
was a candidate for the ministry, and 
was asked before the Presbytery the 
important question, “What is original 
sin ?” He answered that he didn’t 
know what other people’s might be, 
but he rather thought that his was 
laziness. There are no doubt at the 
present time many who are suffering 
from the same disease. Truly, he is 
to be pitied who has nothing to do. 


He is like a barnacle on a ship, or a 
floating derelict, unless to himself 
and dangerous to others.— Rev. B. W. 
Caswell. 

1604. Work a Cure for Doubt. 

When people began to complain to 
H. Clay Trumbull about not enjoying 
religion, he always sought to turn their 
attention away from their feelings to 
some kind of wholesome activity in 
the service of Christ. It was by that 




CARRYING THE DUMMIES 


387 


that he himself had merged out of the 
introspective and gloomy experiences 
of his earlier religious life. Quite in 
his spirit was the advice given to a 
theological student who was coming 
to be perplexed with religious doubts 
and gloom. He was advised to find 
some useful work to accompany his 
theological studies and he found it in 
sawing wood. 

1605. The Curse of Idleness. 

The bees carried to Barbadoes and 
the Western Island ceased to lay up 
honey after the first year. They found 
the weather so fine and the materials 
for honey so abundant that they be¬ 
came exceedingly profligate, ate up 
their capital, worked no more, ’but 
amused themselves by flying about the 
sugar houses and stinging the negroes. 
In Wiese days we have some people 
like these bees. Because they are not 
compelled to work, they are not only 
idle, but vicious. 

1606. Every Worker a Helper. 

A traveler, standing outside Cologne 
Cathedral, expressed his admiration 
of its beauty, “Yes,” said a laborer, 
who was near, “it’s a fine-looking 
building, and took us many a year to 
finish.” “Took you!’ exclaimed the 
tourist. “Why, what had you to do 
with it?” “I mixed the mortar, sir,” 
was the modest yet proud reply. The 
laborer had a right to feel that 'he 
had a share in the grand work. In 
the same way, by his consecrated 
service, everyone can help in the work 
of building up human society into a 
holy temple in the Lord. Every 
worker is a helper.— H. 

1607. Carrying the Dummies. 

I was once crossing the Atlantic 
from New York to Liverpool, and 
after leaving New York I soon noticed 
that the ship was not making her usual 
time. I counted the revolutions of 


the screw and found that they were 
at least ten less than they should be. 
A look into the engine-room revealed 
nothing that indicated weakness, but 
I was not satisfied. I asked an officer 
what was the matter. He replied by 
pointing to one of the three pistons. 
Said he: “That piston nearest you is 
a dummy. It is moving up and down 
just like the other two, but it is not 
only useless, but worse than useless, 
for it is indebted to the two live pis¬ 
tons for even the life it shows. They 
not only have to drive the ship, but 
have to pull the dummy piston along 
while doing it.” 

And so I think it is with some men. 
They not only do nothing themselves 
but the live, the active, the progres¬ 
sive have literally to draw the dum¬ 
my men after them, or else the 
dummies would never get on at all. 
Let us make no mistake in this 
matter. It often happens that the 
very little activity in real service 
shown by those who are the fault¬ 
finders is due wholly to the great 
activity of the real workers. The real 
workers are not only carrying the 
whole load of work, but they are 
carrying also the men who will not 
work and who really try to hinder 
the hard workers by faultfinding. 
— T. Moore. 

1608. Down to Sleep, Up to Work. 

We are all familiar with the eve¬ 
ning prayer of childhood, “Now I 
lay me down to sleep.” Do we know 
the morning prayer? 

“Now I get me up to work, 

I pray the Lord I may not shirk. 

If I should die before the night, 

I pray the Lord my work’s all right.” 

The atmosphere of the Bible is the 
spirit of toil and industry. It is a 
workaday world which we see in the 
Bible. While there are kings and 
queens in the Book, for the most part 
the characters of the Bible are men 



388 


HE LOOKED LIKE WORK 


who tend sheep and plow the fields and 
draw their nets, and women who con¬ 
duct the affairs of the household. 
There is no comfort for lazy folk 
in the Bible. Everywhere the air is 
full of the spirit of action. One book 
of the Bible is called The Acts—more 
properly it is The Book of Action. 
The highest example of industry in 
the Scripture is Jesus himself.— Rev . 
£. W. Work t D.D. 

1609. Enough to Keep Busy. 

A Japanese “boy” came to the home 
of a minister in Los Angeles re¬ 
cently and applied for a position. 
Now it happened that the household 
was already well supplied with serv¬ 
ants, so the minister’s wife said, “I 
am sorry, but we really haven’t 
enough work to keep another ‘boy’ 
busy.” “Madame,” said the Oriental 
politely, “I am sure that you must 
have. You may not know what a 
little bit of work it takes to keep me 
employed.” One does not have to 
go to Japan to find such people; they 
can be found in some of our American 
communities too.— H. 

1610. Misplaced Energy. 

Employer: “Look here, Perkins, if 
you would devote as much energy to 
your work as you do to asking me to 
raise your salary, I’d raise your sal¬ 
ary .”—London Opinion. 

1611. American Idols. 

The Sunday school lesson had been 
about the second commandment. The 
teacher questioned, “Are there any 
idols in America?” “Yes,” replied the 
small boy, ’“me father is idle, and me 
uncle, too.” 

1612. Build and Launch. 

A modern wit' has suggested that 
the trouble with the people who sit and 
wait and watch for their ships to 
come in is that they have never 


launched any ships to begin with. We 
must build and launch, before sitting 
down to expect return cargoes .—The 
Christian Age . 

1613. He Looked Like Work. 

A neighbor knocked at the lazy 
man’s door and told him of a position 
he could get by going after it. “Um,” 
said the man, “it appears that con¬ 
siderable effort will be involved.” 
“Oh, yes,” said the neighbor, “you 
will pass many sleepless nights and 
toilsome days, but it is good pay, 
and a chance for advancement.” 
“Um!” said the man, “And who are 
you?” T am called Opportunity.” 
“Um! You call yourself Opportunity, 
but you look like Hard Work to me.” 
And he slammed the door .—The New 
Success . 

1614. Capital and Labor Keeping 

the Channel. 

At the entrance to the harbor at 
the Isle of Man there are two lights, 
which guide the mariner into the har¬ 
bor. One would think the two signals 
would confuse the pilot. But the fact 
is, he has to keep them in line, and 
so long as he keeps the two lights in 
line his vessel is safe. And it is just 
as we keep our eye on the two signals 
—the love of God and the love of 
man—that we keep the channel, 
and are safe from the rocks on either 
hand.— Dr. W. L. Watkinson . 

1615. The Bliss of Toil. 

J. P. Morgan, the banker, was once 
asked what he enjoyed most in his 
long life. He replied, “My work, 
my home and my family.” The most 
of mankind generally look forward 
hopefully to the time when they can 
enjoy periods of leisure, but how few 
ever reach financial competence, so as 
to pass the remainder of their days 
in restfulness! Many are burdened 



THE PAY ENVELOPE 


389 


with age, illness or trials in their ely- 
sian retirement. 

The true principle of life is to ex¬ 
tract pleasure out of toil, delight out 
of employments. Our Lord said, “My 
Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” 
“I come to do Thy will, O God.” 
Everyone has a mission to accomplish, 
and our greatest glory is in the per¬ 
formance of that work.— Rev. B. W. 
Caswell. 

1616. Argon People. 

That great scientist, Lord Rayleigh, 
discovered a new element; but, al¬ 
though he made many experiments, 
he could not find that it served any 
useful purpose at all. So he called 
it “Argon,” a Greek word, meaning, 
“doing nothing—useless.” There are 
many “argon” folk among us. Too 
many—useless people; no good; won’t 
work.— H. 

1617. Thank God for Work. 

Thank God for the swing of it, 

For the clamoring, hammering ring of it. 
Passion of labor daily hurled 
On the mighty anvils of the world. 

Oh, what is so fierce as the flame of it? 
And what is so huge as the aim of it? 
Thundering on through dearth and doubt. 
Calling the plan of the Maker out. 
Work the Titan, work the friend, 
Shaping the earth to a glorious end, 
Draining the swamps, and blasting the 
hills, 

Doing whatever the Spirit wills,— 
Rending a continent apart, 

To answer the dream of the Master-heart. 
Thank God for the world where none may 
shirk— 

Thank God for the splendor of work! 

—Angela Morgan. 

1618. The Pay Envelope. 

Sadly we confess the inescapable 
truth that what many persons want is 
not a worthy work so much as a good 
income. It is the weekly pay envel¬ 
ope, rather than the task, that interests 
them. While it would be folly to 
ignore that wage aspect of work, yet 
it is contended that a truly noble 
worker is first of all interested in 
his output; for that is the expression 
of his life to the world.— W. T. Bills. 


1619. Dewey’s Delight. 

At the close of his autobiography 
Admiral Dewey wrote a characteristic 
paragraph: “A gratifying feature of 
the rank of Admiral of the Navy, 
which Congress had given me, was 
that I was to remain in active service 
for life. While I lived there would 
be work to do.” 

This gallant desire of the Admiral’s 
was fulfilled. He was kept at work— 
worthy and honorable work, work 
suited to his tastes and to his great 
abilities. An idle life would have 
killed him. 

How many there are who, far from 
sharing Dewey’s delight in “active 
service for life,” look forward to 
nothing else so eagerly as to a life 
of inaction! When duty is all done, 
their pleasure will be begun. 

Of course we know that it is not 
so. The primal curse is not the curse 
of labor, but of drudgery. Labor, 
of proper kind and in due measure, 
is one of man’s greatest )blessings. 
Dewey was right.— A. 

1620. Less Than the Best. 

Some men are failures who seem 
to be very successful. They are doing 
less than their best. By a short cut 
to public favor they have won a 
temporary applause, when they them¬ 
selves know that they should be doing 
a far higher class of work. The king 
who succeeded as a watchmaker, to 
the neglect of his empire, was a real 
failure. Nobody is successful who 
is not doing the very best of which 
he is capable. An easy triumph may 
be a great defeat.— W. T. Bills. 

1621. Child Labor. 

The Church prays, “Thy Kingdom 
Come.” Whatever interferes with 
the growth of the kingdom is in¬ 
imical to the very life of the Church. 
Whatever promotes the kingdom is 
the chief business of the Church. The 



390 


CARRYING COMMON BURDENS 


Seer has taught and the Christ has 
confirmed the great truth that the 
kingdom comes by the way of the 
Child. Towards the Golden Age of 
the World, towards the establishment 
of the Holy Mountain, “a little child 
shall lead.” One of the pictures of 
the city of a future and more blessed 
age is thus summed up: “And the 
streets of the city shall be full of 
boys and girls, playing in the streets 
thereof.” It is almost inconceivable 
that the children should be toiling in 
the factories and sweatshops of an 
ideal city. Perhaps the streets must 
be made a better environment for the 
children. But even now in one of our 
cities, a street full of playing chil¬ 
dren is itself a sign that the resorts 
of vice and shame are elsewhere. 
— A. J. McKelway. 

1622. Christ a Worker. 

“I must work the works of him that 
sent me.” When Dr. Wilfred T. 
Grenfell was a medical student in 
London, he yielded himself to D. L. 
Moody’s invitation to follow Christ. 
The Christian world knows what 
followed. The youth gave himself 
first to the mission among the deep- 
sea fishermen, and later found his field 
on the bleak coast of the Labrador. 

Fourteen years after his conversion 
Dr. Grenfell called on Mr. Moody in 
Boston. The missionary said: “I re¬ 
alized my debt to him, and wanted 
just to say, ‘Thank you.’ He listened 
to what I had to say. Then, treat¬ 
ing religion as the Lord’s business 
should be treated, he said, ‘Good! 
What have you been doing since?’ 
‘Doing?’ echoed Grenfell. ‘Well, I’ve 
been living and working among fish¬ 
ermen from the Bay of Biscay to 
the coast of Labrador, instead of stay¬ 
ing in London.’ ‘Regret it?’ asked 
Moody. ‘No, sir, I should say not!’ ” 

The only regret is for the man who 
has once met Jesus in the way and 
yet must hang his head when he comes 


face to face with the question, as all 
do sooner or later, “What have; you 
been doing since ?”—Christian Advo¬ 
cate. 

1623. Seed Corn of the Kingdom. 

We must not grind the seed corn. 
—Jefferson Davis, when urged to con¬ 
script boys for service in the extrem¬ 
ity of the Confederacy. 

That nation is hastening to ruin— 
even to commercial ruin—which ex¬ 
ploits its children to increase tem¬ 
porarily its wealth .—Edward Howard 
Griggs. 

1624. Work To-day. 

In a large city there is a statue 
of a famous soldier on horseback. 
The horse stands on the pedestal with 
the forefoot lifted from the ground, 
just in the act of taking a step. He 
is just about to go somewhere, but 
he hasn’t started yet. If you go back 
there two years from now, you will 
find him in the very same place and 
in the same position. The birds have 
built their nests in his ears, for he 
never moves. 

There are a great many people like 
that horse, people who are just about 
to do the right, but who never ac¬ 
complish anything worth while. They 
are always just about to do something 
for missions, for temperance, or for 
some other worthy and needy cause; 
but if you go back to them in two 
years or six years, you will find them 
where you left them—just about to 
start. If anything good is to be done, 
now is the time to begin. The night 
cometh, when no work can be done, 
and when all one’s good resolutions 
count for nothing. To-morrow never 
comes, but to-day is always here, and 
now is the time for doing. 

1625. Carrying Common Burdens. 

That Labor should be suspicious of 
the Church is due to its lack of knowl- 



THE WORK CURE 


391 


edge of the great, warm, sympathetic 
heart of the body of church members. 
The fact is that the large majority of 
church people are working people. 
The interests of both the Church and 
Labor are common interests. They 
cannot afford to be other than in most 
cordial relations. They are coming 
to understand each other better. It 
is true of them as of the parts of 
the great Manhattan Bridge which I 
see from my window as I write. The 
space between the spans is growing 
less every day. They will soon be 
welded indissolubly together and so 
will they gladly carry the burden as¬ 
signed.— W. W. White , D.D. 

1626. The Work Cure. 

The queen of Sweeden, it is said, 
for the sake of curing some nervous 
derangement, has been ordered by her 
physician to make her own bed, to 
sweep and dust her own room, besides 
taking other and regular exercise out 
of doors. This has been dubbed “the 
chambermaid cure,” and not a bad 
cure for many a fashionable dame 
would it prove. Moreover, it has 
the advantage of suggesting an endless 
number of invaluable remedies, which 
have hitherto been overlooked by the 
medicine-loving public. 

There is the “Office Boy cure” for 
the dyspeptic millionaire, and the 
“Stevedore cure” for the nervous mer¬ 
chant, and the “Stable Boy remedy” 
for Croesus with the liver complaint, 
and the “Penny-Postman cure” for 
Midas who is suffering from the ac¬ 
cumulation of to much adipose tissue, 
and the “Nurse Girl cure,” for fash¬ 
ionable Mrs. Hysterics who cannot 
stand the noise of a crying baby, and 
the “Dress-Maker elixir” for Miss 
Flora McFlimsy who has palpitation 
of the heart at sight of a spider or 
a mouse. But really there is no end 
to these new and interesting additions 
to materia medica. 


1627. How to Look at Work. 

There is an old story of the two 
men who looked out of the window, 
and one saw mud, the other stars. 
Don’t you suppose the star-seer was 
the happier one? Some one has well 
said that grumblers seldom work and 
workers seldom grumble. It seems as 
if there isn’t time for both in one 
life. 

Anyhow, work is not anything to 
grumble over. Dr. Henry Van Dyke 
says, you know: 

Heaven is blessed with perfect rest 
But the blessing of earth is toil. 

And again some one else says for us 
when things go the exact reverse of 
smoothly: 

There's this much progress in a blunder. 
It shows you how to stand from under. 

—^Young People. 

1628. Smoke of torment. 

Pleasantly rings the Chime that calls to 
the Bridal-hall or Kirk; 

But the Devil might gloatingly pull for 
the peal that wakes the Child to 
work! 

“Come, little children,” the Mill-bell 
rings, and drowsily they run, 

Tittle old Men and Women, and human 
worms who have spun 
The life of Infancy into silk; and fed, 
Child, Mother, and Wife, 

The factory’s smoke of torment, with the 
fuel of human life. 

O weird white face, and weary bones, 
and whether they hurry or crawl, 
You know them by the factory stamp, 
they wear it one and all. 

—Gerald Massey—“Lady Laura.” 

1629. Work With a Will. 

There is a very old story, so old that 
many have forgotten it. But it carries 
a good Labor Day lesson for us all. 
It is of a man who took passage in 
a stage coach. There were first, 
second, and third-class passengers. 
But when he looked into the coach 
he saw all the passengers sitting to¬ 
gether without distinction. He could 
not understand it till by and by they 
came to a hill and the coach stopped 
and the driver called out, “First-class 
passengers keep their seats, second- 



39 2 


WORKERS, SHIRKERS, JERKERS 


class passengers get out and walk, 
third-class passengers get out and 
push.” Now in the Church we have 
no room for first-class passengers— 
people who think that salvation means 
an easy ride all the way to heaven. 
We have no room for second-class 
passengers—people who are carried 
most of the time, and who, when they 
must work out their own salvation, 
go trudging on, giving never a thought 
to helping their fellows along. All 
church members ought to be third- 
class passengers—people who, when¬ 
ever there is need, are ready to dis¬ 
mount and push all together, and push 
with a will. 

1630. Workers, Shirkers, Jerkers. 

Mankind is divisible into two classes 
—the workers and the drones. But 
some one has suggested a triple di¬ 
vision—into workers, shirkers and 
jerkers. There are many who will 
not do the work at all; others who 
will not do anything but work, and 
still others who work when the whim 
strikes them, and then only spasmodi¬ 
cally—by fits and starts. Every pas¬ 
tor has some of these ‘‘jerkers” in 
his congregation, who take hold with 
violent zeal at times, only to let go 
suddenly before long. A jerker may 
be better than a shirker, but a steady 
worker is best of all. 

1631. The Church Honoring Labor. 

Divine economy has no place for 
idleness. Adam and Eve were to dress 
and keep the garden. God never in¬ 
tended that man should derive his 
chief pleasure from watching the sun 
go around, and seeing the table spread. 
One is to earn his bread in the sweat 
of his own face. Labor is dignified in 
the Sabbath commandment, which pre¬ 
scribes six days of work before it 
gives any hint of a day of rest. A 
Sabbath without previous working 
days is meaningless. Its purpose, so 
far as body and mind are concerned, 


is to relieve weariness, caused by toil. 
Whoever preaches the gospel of 
honest labor is in harmony with the 
Scriptures; whoever neglects to sound 
the keynote of activity is not doing 
his duty as a Christian teacher. 

1632. Work not Menial. 

Men are accustomed to name some 
callings in life menial. They intend 
by thatjiesignation to imply that there 
is something degrading in it. But it is 
not the calling itself that is menia^or 
honorable. It is the man himself who 
either dignifies or degrades his calling. 
A king is not degraded by doing a 
humble task, but he rather dignifies 
the duty by his willingness to do it. 
If your calling makes you mean, it 
is menial, but if it makes you a man 
it is honorable. 

1633. The Blessing of Work. 

One of the best things for any 
young man is work. Idleness is the 
devil’s trap. Work is the liberation 
of energy, the channel of achievement. 
Whatever one may lack of native 
talent may be compensated for by 
patient and persevering drudgery. The 
young man who does not have to 
work is to be pitied; the man who 
won’t work is to be condemned; the 
man who is willing to work but can 
find no work to do should have our 
sympathy and our aid. But work is 
a generic term. One can work with 
his brains as well as with his hands; 
on his knees as well as on his feet; 
with his pen as well as with his pick; 
with his pocketbook as well as with 
his plumbline; with his prayers as 
well as with his possessions. God 
has not held any of us to one single 
line of duty. Obligation is as wide as 
life, and our energies should be as 
expansive as our vision and as 
generous as our prayers. 

1634. Take Hold and Lift. 

A teacher of one of our Freedmen’s 
schools told me that one day as she 



LABOR THE BASIS OF POWER 


393 


sat at her window, she saw two 
negroes loading a cart. One of them 
was disposed to shirk. The other 
stopped, and looking sharply at his 
lazy companion, said, “Sam, do you 
expect to go to heaven?” “Yes,” 
was the reply. “Then take hold and 
lift,” said the other. There was pro¬ 
found philosophy in that remark. 
There are scores of Christians in our 
churches who expect to go to heaven, 
who would greatly increase their 
chances of going there by taking hold 
and lifting some of the burdens which 
they are letting their brethren bear 
alone. Take hold and lift is a good 
motto, a good lesson to get on Labor 
Day.— H. 

1635. Labor the Basis of Power. 

Have the Church and Labor mutual 
interests? Yea, verily, Labor which 
does not labor, and a church which 
does not labor is not worthy the name. 
The mutual interest of the Church 
and Labor lies in the wonderful cry 
of the founder of the Church and the 
greatest friend that Labor ever had, 
which was, “Come unto Me, all ye 
that labor.” But present conditions 
make too plain the sad fact that the 
great majority of those that labor do 
not, will not, come to Him. If Labor 
would have the Church a better 
Church than it is to-day, let Labor 
take possession of it, and by its stal¬ 
wart power and consecrated life mould 
it according to its own devout and 
prayerful will. But for Labor to do 
this it must first come to Christ. He 
is the laboring man’s friend, and He 
and His Father, the Eternal God, 
are the two greatest laborers the uni¬ 
verse knows, and what He said will 
be forever true, “My Father worketh, 
hitherto, and I work .”—Richard S. 
Holmes, D.D. 

1636. The Gulf and the Bond. 

We often hear of the “gulf” be¬ 
tween laboring men and the Church. 


Who made it? Is it real or imagi¬ 
nary ? Only in the exception is it 
real; and both the Church and Labor 
are responsible. 

But what have they in common? 
Family interest, which means better 
schools, cleaner cities and the elevat¬ 
ing of the whole moral tone, the 
bringing up of children in that they 
shall have the best training our land 
can afford and that they shall not 
perform manual labor before reach¬ 
ing mature age.— Rev. C. F. Ensign. 

1637. Social Justice Imperative. 

The Christian Church and Organ¬ 
ized Labor have this great interest in 
common—the establishment of social 
justice. Both insist that men shall 
be dealt with as men, not as “hands,” 
that justice demands that each shall 
be given a chance to make the con¬ 
tribution of all that in him is to the 
service of the brotherhood, and that 
the brotherhood shall recompense him 
with a just return. Labor may hold 
various views as to what that just 
return is; the Church is bound to 
insist that it shall be at least an op¬ 
portunity to develop into a fullgrcwn 
son of God in the likeness of Jesus 
of Nazareth .—Henry Sloan Coffin, 
D.D. 

1638. Go Tell the Ropemaker. 

“What have you done to-day?” I 
asked a ropemaker. “O sir, ten hours 
of hard work, just twisting tow, my 
fingers sore, my lungs choked with 
dust. I did not come to the prayer¬ 
meeting last night. I was too tired; 
I went to sleep when I was trying to 
say my prayers. I sometimes think 
if it were not for Mary I would end 
it all—nothing but work, work, work. 
I am so tired, and I only make enough 
to keep body and soul together.” This 
is one side. See the other. A ship 
with eleven hundred souls on board 
is being driven upon the shore—a land 
of crags, like giant teeth, stretching 



394 


LABOR’S MEMORIAL DAY 


up sheer and sharp. One anchor after 
another is dropped, each checking the 
speed of the vessel’s drift. The last 
anchor is down. Will it hold? Yes; 
the ship is saved! Go, tell the ropfe- 
maker not to think of the toil, and 
the dust, and the monotony, but of 
the eleven hundred men and women 
saved. These things are written in 
the Lamb’s Book of Life—the ring 
of every hammer, the click of every 
needle, the whirl of every loom. 
They who truly wait upon the Lord 
shall hear His angels strengthening 
them, as they strengthened Christ, 
with songs of peace and good-will to 
men.— Rev. Dr. W. Burnett Wright. 

1639. Christ and His Tool. 

Phillips Brooks said: “The chisel 
cannot carve a noble statue—it is only 
cold, dead steel. Yet neither can the 
artist carve the statue without the 
chisel. When, however, the two are 
brought together, when the chisel lays 
itself in the hands of the sculptor, 
ready to be used by him, the beautiful 
work begins. We cannot do Christ’s 
work—our hands are too clumsy for 
anything so delicate, so sacred; but 
when we put ourselves into the hands 
of Christ, His wisdom, His skill, and 
His gentleness flow through us, and 
the work is done. Christ and we do 
it—not we alone, for we could not do 
it; yet not Christ alone, for He de¬ 
pends on us. 

1640. Steady Work. 

“Don’t keep watching the steeple all 
the time!” The foreman said it to 
the little girl. She had been so much 
excited the day before by seeing the 
busy workmen clustered about the far 
point of the steeple. This was when 
the new church was being built. But 
this day the steeple was deserted, and 
the little girl had said to the fore¬ 
man, “You aren’t working so fast as 
you were yesterday, are you, Mr. 
Smith?” And the foreman said, 


“Don’t keep watching the steeple all 
the time! It’s too windy to work up 
there to-day. But run inside and see 
if it isn’t coming on pretty well, 
after all!” And the little girl went 
inside, and saw there the planing and 
the measuring and the shaping of 
timbers, and all the work upon the 
floors and partitions and great arches. 
And then she saw that it is not always 
the steeple that shows best the rate 
of progress. 

In other kinds of work, also, there 
come “windy days.” One cannot al¬ 
ways work in sight, on lofty steeples. 
One cannot have always the satisfac¬ 
tion and excitement of seeing others 
working in open sight. But the work, 
if it is a good work, may still go on, 
quietly and steadily and certainly. Be 
patient! “Don’t keep watching the 
steeple all the time!” 

1641. Labor’s Prayer. 

Where cross the crowded ways of life, 
Where sound the cries of race and clan, 
Above the noise of selfish strife, 

We hear Thy voice, O Son of Man! 

In haunts of wretchedness and need, 

On shadowed thresholds dark with 
fears, 

From paths where hide the lures of greed. 
We catch the vision of Thy tears. 

O Master, from the mountainside. 

Make haste to heal these hearts of 
pain; 

Among these restless throngs abide, 

O tread the city’s streets again. 

Till sons of men shall learn Thy love 
And follow where Thy feet have trod; 
Till glorious from Thy heaven above 
Shall come the city of our God. 

— F. Mason North. 

1642. Labor’s Memorial Day. 

Just as the Memorial Day and the 

several “birthdays” show our appreci¬ 
ation of those who rendered patriotic 
services, and just as the Church’s 
“holy days” do honor to those who 
have served mankind spiritually, so 
“Labor Day Sunday” should be ob¬ 
served by the churches in honor of the 
millions of toilers who daily serve 
mankind in the humbler places of life. 



WHISTLE AND HOE 


395 


Many a preacher, in his study, pre¬ 
paratory to the service, got a new 
vision of what the labor movement 
stands for, and many a workingman, 
listening to his Labor Day address, 
caught a glimpse of the purpose of 
the church which he had never 
dreamed of. These things will help 
bring about a better understanding be¬ 
tween men. Surely that is the first 
essential to the full doing of one’s 
duty toward his fellows. And that 
will help settle the labor question.— 
Rev. Charles Slehle. 


1643. Whistle and Hoe. 

There’s a boy just over the garden 
fence 

Who is whistling all through the live¬ 
long day; 

And his work is not just a mere pre¬ 
tense, 

For you see the weeds he has cut away. 

Whistle and hoe. 

Sing as you go, 

Shorten the row 

By the songs you know. 

Not a word of bemoaning his task I hear; 

He has scarcely time for a growl, I 
know; 

For his whistle sounds so merry and clear, 

He must find some pleasure in every 
row. 


Whistle and hoe, 

Sing as you go. 

Shorten the row 

By the songs you know. 


But then, while you whistle, be sure that 
you hoe; 

For if you are idle the briers will 
spread; 

And whistling alone to the end of the 
row 

May do for the weeds, but it is bad 
for the bread. 


Whistle and hoe. 

Sing as you go. 

Shorten the row 

By the songs you know. 

— Unidentified. 


1644. The Dignity of Prosaic La¬ 
bor. 

Labor, originally a curse, has be¬ 
come a crown. It is not ignoble to 
work, but it is a glory to a man to 
task himself and toil assiduously, pro¬ 
vided the labor is honest, and that it 
contributes to the well-being of so¬ 


ciety. But many who admit the 
dignity of labor in its higher reaches 
—the labor of the architect, of the 
statesman, of the scientist, of the 
artist, or of the inventor—are in¬ 
clined, consciously or unconsciously, to 
disparage the work of the humble 
toilers whose handicraft escapes ob¬ 
servation and the rewards of whose 
toil are very meager. The laborers 
themselves, too, are apt to fall into a 
despondent temper and say: “We are 
wasting our time,” when the tasks 
they are called upon to perform are 
chiefly the chores or errands which 
belong to the routine operations of 
life, which are needed in home or 
store or on the farm just to keep the 
machinery going. 

This depreciation of prosaic labor 
arises from the mistake of estimating 
labor by its results rather than by its 
spirit. Because one man makes a 
ship where another manufactures a 
toy, or one woman writes a novel 
where another only bakes a loaf of 
bread, it does not follow that in the 
first instance greatness is present or 
in the latter case is absent. The mo¬ 
tive and aim in the labor are as im¬ 
portant as is the labor itself. What 
are we doing it for? is a question as 
pertinent as the inquiry, what are we 
doing?— Rev. C. A. S. Dwight. 

1645. A Word To Workingmen. 

The churches have a message for 
the workingman. That is why we 
come to you in these shop meetings. 
There is no other reason for our 
coming. In social life it is customary 
to return another’s call. May we not 
expect you to call on us? We assure 
you of a welcome in our church homes. 

But there is another reason as to 
why you should go to church. Some 
of you have children. Your children 
are watching you. They believe that 
you are the best men in all the world, 
and that what you do must be right. 
You know how true that was in your 



396 


RALLY ON THE COLORS 


childhood experience. When the 
awakening comes to your children as 
it one day came to you, would it not 
be more comfortable for you to re¬ 
alize that your example as fathers 
was such as to lead them toward that 
institution, which, way down in your 
hearts, you know to be the most up¬ 
lifting force in human society? 

Your wives need your help in train¬ 
ing those children for God and for 
righteousness. It is hardly a square 
deal to thrust upon our wives all of 
the responsibility in this matter. 

You need the church for your own 
sakes. Perhaps you are saying that 
you can lead the Christian life outside 


the Church. That may be true. As 
a matter of fact, however, you do 
need the Church to live the best 
kind of a Christian life. And you 
know it. Why not be honest about 
it? 

We want not yours, but you. Our 
business in the world Jis to help 
people. We do not pretend that we 
are blameless, but we do believe that 
in our churches you will find that 
sympathy, that fellowship, that hope, 
that life which we ourselves found. 

We want you to have it. More im¬ 
portant still, Jesus Christ wants you 
to have it. Won’t you come? 


XXVI. RALLY DAY 

(Usually Observed About Third or Fourth Sunday in September) 


1645a. An Honest Rally Day. 

Elijah, by a great rally at Mt. 
Carmel recovered Israel from apos¬ 
tasy. On a famous Rally Day Ezra 
read, from dawn until high noon, 
the Book of the Law in the ears of 
the people gathered as one man. 

An honest Rally Day would start 
an era of fresh activity in all our 
churches and Sabbath schools. 

1646. “Rally On the Colors!” 

When an army company hears that 
bugle-call, it is the duty of every man 
to look for the flag, get to it as 
quickly as he can, and defend it to 
the last. Although our Sunday school 
company has not been disbanded dur¬ 
ing the summer, it has been much 
scattered, and we need to make a 
special effort to get together again, 
that we may devote ourselves to the 
honor of the colors which our great 
Captain has commanded us to defend 
and advance. We need every mem¬ 
ber of the school to help in holding 
up the cross of Christ before others 
by living daily a Christ-like life. To 


become Christ-like we need to study 
His words and deeds, in the Sunday 
school and out of it. 

1647. The Control Lever. 

Now and then an accident occurs 
on a railway which has only one 
explanation—the man in charge of 
the levers has failed at the proper 
moment to guide the wheels of the 
train onto a safe siding, or having set 
the switch in favor of a previous 
slow train, he fails to change it when 
the express approaches. There are 
certain “switch moments” in the lives 
of all of us, when the far future 
depends upon the instant decision. 

Life is full of cross-overs and de¬ 
railing devices, all of which require 
constant attention if moral safety 
is to be preserved or true achieve¬ 
ment won. Life is not a straight 
track; it is as complicated as the 
system of rails at a junction. We 
need ever to watch and pray. And 
Rally Day is a good day to resolve 
to do both, and also to work.— H. 



NOT MERELY SPEEDING UP 


m 


1647a. Not Merely “Speeding Up.” 

his Sagamore Beach address on 
“Scientific Management and the 
Church,” Professor Shailer Mathews, 
of Chicago mentioned the vehemence 
with which Frederick W. Taylor, the 
inventor of scientific management, 
maintains at all times that his great 
idea is the idea of doing work more 
efficiently and in no sense an idea of 
mere hurrying to get more work done. 
But Dr. Mathews remarked in con¬ 
trast that the best notion of efficiency 
which appears in the plans of many 
churches and Sunday schools involves 
really nothing more than “speeding 
up.” He described vividly the rush 
and noise and final futility of many 
rash efforts in the church to “boom 
things.” 

1648. Need of Rally. 

Every organization of the Church 
recognizes the need of a Rally Day in 
the fall. Many churches plan to make 
one day a time for rallying all the 
forces: in the morning a rally in the 
interest of the church service; at the 
Sunday school hour an every-depart- 
ment rally of the Sunday school; and 
in the evening a rally for the Young 
People’s Societies. 

Rally Day has a great purpose, it 
has a great theme, and it may give 
great impetus to the work. Whether 
it does the last, or not, will depend 
largely upon the way it is planned, 
and the conscientious energy put into 
it. 

1649. Awake, Put on Thy Strength. 

A critical person might object to 
Rallying Day as a needless breaking 
in upon school routine, or as in some 
cases, encouraging the habit of sum¬ 
mer listlessness in God’s work. Pos¬ 
sibly a closer study of the whole 
question would dispel such criticism. 
The day has grown out of an evident 
need. “Necessity is the mother of 


invention.” The fact is that the sum¬ 
mer vacation has of late years taken 
so strong a hold on our people, es¬ 
pecially in our larger cities and towns, 
that a corrective or antidote is called 
for. It is not longer a question of a 
modest fortnight or even month of 
absence from home—no longer a ques¬ 
tion of a few families taking a brief 
holiday at different dates in the season, 
but it is a question of almost a 
general flight, as of the swallows in 
the fall, followed by a general laxity 
in all church work stretching far 
into the later months of the year. 

Rallying Day is like the sounding of 
the gong or tocsin, like a trumpet or 
bugle-blast. It is a fixed day with a 
fixed purpose which every friendly 
heart must recognize and accept as its 
own. Vacation weeks and months 
come, the habits of our people are 
settling more and more in that direc¬ 
tion and cannot be changed by even 
ecclesiastical authority. But the 
church can meet new demands by new 
methods and Rallying Day is the voice 
of the church to her sons and daugh¬ 
ters: “Awake, put on strength!” 

1650. Rally to Work. 

Earnest purpose, unflagging zeal, 
bring success. Sightless Milton taught 
men to see what eye hath not seen. 
Deaf Beethoven bequeathed us har¬ 
monies and melodies which men of 
most acute hearing had never heard. 
Longfellow’s sculptor, failing to re¬ 
produce his ideal of the Virgin in 
costly woods brought from far off 
islands, found his instrument of op¬ 
portunity in the charred wood on the 
hearth. “What men want is not tal¬ 
ent,” said Bulwer; “it is purpose; in 
other words, not power to achieve, but 
will to labor.” As Charles Dudley 
Warner reminds us, “A great artist 
can paint a great picture on a small 
canvass.” 

Let us make our Rally Day a day of 
enlistment. Let us begin the year’s 



398 


NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE 


work with earnest purpose and carry 
it out with unflagging zeal.— H. 

1651. Rally Spirit Removes Ob¬ 

stacles. 

The night before Jena an artillery 
column got stuck fast in a ravine. 
“Napoleon,” we read, “assembled the 
weary gunners, provided them with 
tools fetched from the park in the 
rear. Himself holding the lantern, he 
urged on the work. Tired as they 
were, the men labored under the eye 
of the Emperor without a murmur, 
and at last the obstacle was removed, 
and the long column began to move 
slowly on.” That is the way that 
conquerers, in all fields, win their 
battles. 

The true rally spirit removes ob¬ 
stacles. Let us not fear obstacles, 
but overcome them. We can in the 
Lord’s strength. Let us each say, as 
we go forward into the new year 
of work: “I will go in the strength 
of the Lord God.”— H. 

1652. God Requires of us Success. 

When Admiral Farragut took com¬ 
mand of the Western Gulf Squadron 
during the Civil War, his orders from 
the Navy Department said: “The 
Department and the country will re¬ 
quire of you success.” The require¬ 
ment was met. On April 24, 1862, 
the fleet passed the forts at the mouth 
of the Mississippi and overcame, with 
very slight effort, a Confederate fleet 
of eighteen vessels. During the 
fight, when the men were leaving the 
guns, Farragut spoke the famous mes¬ 
sage: “Don’t flinch from that fire, 
boys; there’s a hotter fire than that 
for those that don’t do their duty.” 
Next day New Orleans was captured, 
and his orders had been executed. 
But it had been a hard contest. “It 
has pleased Almighty God to preserve 
my life through a fire such as the 
world has scarcely known,” he wrote 
to his wife. “I shall return properly 


my thanks, as well as those of our 
fleet, for his goodness and mercy. 
He has permitted me to make a name 
for my dear boy’s inheritance, as well 
as for my comfort and that of my 
family!” 

Let us not forget that God requires 
of us success. He expect us to wia 
the battle for Him, for righteousness, 
for all that is good and true. On this 
Rally Day let us be grateful that He 
counts us worthy of this enlistment. 
Let us consecrate ourselves anew to 
the work of conquering this world to 
Christ.— H. 

1653. Nothing is Impossible. 

When Daniel Webster, at the laying 
of the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill 
shaft, besought the vast concourse of 
people to “stand back,” lest the crowd 
should break down the speaker’s plat¬ 
form at peril of life and limb, the 
answer was, “It is impossible!” “Im¬ 
possible !” thundered the mighty ora¬ 
tor, “Nothing is impossible at Bunker 
Hill!” 

Nothing is impossible for us. “If 
God be for us who can be against 
us?” Let us on this Rally Day renew 
our faith that we can do all things 
through the God who strengthens us. 
— H. 

1654. Let No Handicap Hinder. 

Henry Fawcett, who died some years 
ago in England, had a fearful handi¬ 
cap in life’s race—he was born blind. 
Did he sit down under his limitation 
which nature put upon him and try 
to • possess his soul in patience until 
God’s mesenger should give him his 
final release? Not he. With sublime 
courage he resolved to make the most 
of himself in spite of that defect. 
He acquired an education, made a 
special study of economics, isued a 
text book which was widely used in 
English and American colleges, re¬ 
ceived honors from the great univer¬ 
sities, entered Parliment, and became 



RALLY DAY ZEAL 


399 


a member of the Cabinet as Post¬ 
master General of England. How 
such glorious courage rebukes us when 
we are despondent over our infinitely 
lesser difficulties. 

Let no handicap hinder. Let no 
thought of inability hinder. Let this 
Rally Day see your entrance upon 
some phase of Christian work, which 
6 hall be pursued to glorious result. 
—H. 

1655. Rally Roll Call: Are You 

Here? 

We have all laughed at the reputed 
story of Pat Murphy, at the battle 
of Trafalgar, whose version of the 
battle was as follows: “Lord Nelson 
came on deck and said, ‘Is Pat Mur¬ 
phy on board?’ And I said, ‘Here 
I am, me Lord.’ Then said his lord- 
ship, ‘Let the battle proceed.’ ” And 
yet, while this was written for a joke, 
there is more to it than we are apt 
to think. For if it had not been for 
the Pat Murphies, or John Joneses 
or Tom Smiths and others who were 
on hand, there would have been no 
victories for the Nelsons, Wellingtons, 
Napoleons or Grants who now live 
in history as great commanders. 

This is the day of the Rally Roll 
Call. Are you here? Are you ready? 
Let the battle—the battle of the year, 
the battle for righeousness, the battle 
carried on in Christ’s name and in 
His behalf—let the battle proceed. 
— H. 

1656. A Calling Campaign. 

It always pays when a teacher calls 
on the members of his class. The 
boys and girls—and even the adult 
members of the school—like the at¬ 
tention. A call on an irregular pupil 
frequently brings him to his place 
on the following Sunday. Our school 
determined to make a calling cam¬ 
paign a prominent part of prepara¬ 
tion for Rally Day. We had 
excellent results. 


1657. Rally Day Zeal. 

Zinzendorf said to a Moravian 
brother at Herrnhut, “Can you go 
as a missionary to Greenland?” 
“Yes.” “Can you go to-morrow?” 
“If the cobbler has finished my shoes 
I can go to-morrow.” That was 
a quick, willing-hearted response. 
Wesley said: “If I had three hun¬ 
dred men who feared nothing but 
God, hated nothing but sin, and were 
determined to know nothing among 
men but* Jesus Christ, and him cru¬ 
cified, I would set the world on fire.” 
“Send us men,” said a heathen con¬ 
vert, “with hot hearts.” 

1658. After Rally Day Results. 

We are not to be content with a 
little fruit—a poor, shriveled bunch 
of grapes that are more like marbles 
than grapes, here and there, upon 
the half-nourished stem. The abid¬ 
ing in Him will produce a character 
rich in manifold graces. “A little 
fruit” is not contemplated by Christ 
at all. Why is it that the average 
Christian man of this generation 
bears only a berry or two, here and 
there, like such as are left upon the 
vines after the vintage, when the 
promise is that if we will abide in 
Christ we will bear much fruit? 
—Alexander McLaren. 

1659. Rally and Act. 

When the English fleet under Lord 
Nelson was bearing down upon the 
French ships anchored in Aboukir 
Bay, just before the ever-memorable 
battle of the Nile, the captain of one 
of the British vessels addressed his 
crew at considerable length, and, 
having exhorted them to remember 
their duty, and what their country 
required at their hands, he turned 
to the \captain of the marines and 
said: “Now, sir, you have heard 
what I have said to the ship’s com¬ 
pany; it may be as well for you to 



400 


IN THE FIELD OF WORK 


say something to the men particularly 
under you.” Upon which the marine 
officer commanded “attention,” and 
addressed them in the following pithy 
and laconic manner: “My lads, do 
you see that land?” pointing to the 
shore which they were rapidly near¬ 
ing. “That,” said he, “is the land of 
Egypt; and if you don’t fight like 
the mischief, you’ll soon be in the 
house of bondage.” The effect was 
electrical. 

1660. In the Field of Work. 

A pastor once had occasion to visit 
one of his flock who was a farmer, 
on a spiritual errand. On arriving 
at the farmhouse the minister in¬ 
quired whether his parishioner was 
at home. “You will find him in the 
harvest field,” was the reply. And 
so it proved. The busy farmer, 
making hay while the sun shone, 
improving the opportune weather for 
the ingathering of the matured crops, 
was discovered by the minister with 
the message at the post of duty, 
losing no precious moments in 
gossip, idling or miscief-making. 
“Found in the harvest field!” That 
is the true description of a faithful 
Christian laborer.— C. A. S. Dwight. 

1661. Not to Eat But Hoe. 

I found in a small country church 
away up among the hills of Ver¬ 
mont a certain deacon of great 
wealth, who was one of the most 
zealous and self-denying members 
in that little church, and known 
throughout the whole community for 
his good works. I ventured to ask 
him one day why he was ^pursuing 
a course so unusual for rich men. 
His reply was, “When I became a 
Christian and began to read my 
Bible with appreciation of its mean¬ 
ing, I read that I was called into 
the vineyard of the Lord, and I made 
up my mind at once that I wasn’t 
called there to eat grapes, but to hoe; 


and I’ve been trying to hoe ever 
since .”—Christian Endeavor World. 

1662. Lifting Dead Weights. 

A square flag-stone of a pound’s 
weight was recently shoved out of 
place jin an English town by the 
united efforts of only three mush¬ 
rooms growing under it. This shows 
the immense power of a thing that 
grows. Arid three live Christians 
in a community will often, by the 
inherent force of their life, lift up 
the dead weights of woldliness over 
them. 

1663. Keep the Light Burning. 

An old light-house keeper was 
passing away. For years it had been 
his duty to keep the lamps in the 
high tower burning. Now the fire 
of his own life was burning low, as 
he slipped out upon the sea of an¬ 
other world. Suddenly he raised 
himself upon one elbow, and asked: 

“Is the lamp burning in the tower? 
You know we must not let it go out 
to-night. Some one will be watch¬ 
ing for it.” “Yes, the lamp is all 
right.” “Then I can rest.” And the 
old man passed away. How is it 
with the light committed to our care? 
Is it burning brightly? 

1664. Rally Day Verse. 

Welcome, welcome;, Rally Day, 

Bringing back the dear old way. 

See, our scattered people come, 

Gladly _ singing “Harvest Home.” 

We will strive with purpose true 

Faithful work for Christ to do, 

1665. Rally Day a “Bracer.” 

Rally Day is a “bracer” for the 
new campaign. Now we get our 
forces together, raise our banner, 
shout our battle cry, and Forward, 
March! The day stands for conse¬ 
cration, a fresh giving of ourselves 
to the greatest of all tasks, the win¬ 
ning of souls. A large attendance 
is not the only desirable thing. That 



RALLY AND CARRY ON 


401 


alone may prove very deceptive. The 
services of the Rally Day should be 
profoundly earnest, a service in 
which we shall be “re-Pentecosted, 
recharged with “Power from on 
high.” 

1666. Old Home Day. 

Rally Sunday is the “Old Home 
Day” of the Sunday school. An at¬ 
mosphere of cordiality, in which is 
mingled welcome for those returning 
from the summer absences and good 
cheer for those who, not having been 
able to take a long rest away from 
home, have borne the burden and heat 
of the season in their usual places, even 
in the Sunday school, should be its 
most prominent feature. In making 
provision for such a Rally Day, much 
depends on the superintendent, but he 
must have the cooperation of both 
teachers and pupils if a successful 
anniversary is to be assured .—James 
L. Rand. 

1667. Rally and Carry On. 

“Carry on!” Ever since the great 
world war the term has stood for 
courage and fidelity, for cheerful¬ 
ness and grit, whether in the man in 
khaki or the housewife waiting at 
home. For a certain group of fight¬ 
ing lads who met for prayer one 
Saturday evening “somewhere in 
France,” it became very sacred. 
One of these men led in prayer, 
and amid much halting and stumbling 
his spiritual genius found vent in 
the cry, “Lord, help us to obey thy 
command, ‘Carry on till I come.’ ” 
Rev. J. A. Patten, one of the finest 
chaplains that English Congregation¬ 
alism produced, tells of this im¬ 
promptu “translation” which made a 
spiritual reality to glow and live in 
the minds of soldier lads.— B. Her¬ 
man. 

1668. “Fall In.” Rally Day Call. 

One of the most stirring moments 
in a military camp is when the “long 

26 


roll” sounds, and the first sergeant 
walks down the company street call¬ 
ing out, “Fall in, men, fall in.” 
Then, indeed, is seen a hurrying 
“in hot haste.” No matter upon what 
the soldier has been engaged, the 
work or play is instantly dropped, 
and every energy is bent upon reach¬ 
ing one’s place in the now forming 
ranks before that summons ceases to 
be heard. Bible and cards alike are 
dropped, and the half-read letter is 
thrust into the pocket, while the 
half-written one is consigned to the 
knapsack. 

The noncommissioned officers are 
first in place with reversed rifles to 
fix the alignment of the company, 
and the soldier, adjusting gaiter, belt 
or bandoleer as he runs, is intent up¬ 
on being in line before the roll-call 
begins. As t/he drum) ceases, the 
company guides bring their guns to 
the shoulder with a snap, step into 
their places, the names are called, and 
the sergeant turns over with a salute 
the company to its officer in com¬ 
mand. Then, at the tap of the drum, 
from all over the encampment, keep¬ 
ing time to the music, the companies 
are seen marching down their streets 
to where they break from column 
into line to right and left of the reg¬ 
imental colors. All is so instant, 
cheerful and precise that many a 
pastor looking upon or remembering 
it, says to himself, “Would that I 
could so get the good soldiers of Jesus 
Christ into their places after the 
summer rest 1 ”—The Interior. 

1669. Rally the Prayer Meeting. 

If the church rallies to the prayer 
meeting as it should, the working of 
the Spirit may be expected, and the 
winning of souls will be a natural 
outcome. The influence will be ex¬ 
tended by neighborhood meetings in 
outlying districts and if those that 
cannot attend the regular gatherings 
will make a point of observing the 



402 


SETTING UP THE BANNER 


hour at home or wherever they may 
be.— Christian Endeavor World. 

1670. Setting Up the Banner. 

The flag makes the difference be¬ 
tween an army and a mob. Through¬ 
out this Middle West for unknown 
hundreds of years the Chippeway 
and the O jib way, the Pawnee and 
the Ogalalah, the Crow and the 
Blackfoot, the Gros Ventres and the 
Nez Perces were in perpetual con¬ 
flict, but there never was between 
tribes an Indian “war.” Without an 
ideal, without a principle, without a 
standard, the death of an opponent is 
not war but massacre, murder or 
revenge. 

With the beginning of a new year 
of church work we here set up our 
standards once more and call to the 
muster all who love God and all who 
would serve their fellow-men. 

1671. Model Letter to Cradle Roll. 

Dear Little Cradle Roll Friend: 

While you are one of the smallest 
members of our Sunday school army, 
we love you most of all, and Rally 
Day would seem very strange without 
you and your papa and mama, so we 
invite you all to come Rally Day, 
September 29th, at 2: 30, to our kinder¬ 
garten room, on Madison Street, to 
take part with your papa and mama 
in the march of the Cradle Roll 
members around the kindergarten 
room. We shall have a badge for 
you the same color as this invitation. 

Now be sure to come, for we love 
you and have a warm place for you 
in our big Sunday school family. 

Your friends, 

Supt. Cradle Roll. 
Supt. Sunday school. 

P. S. —Perhaps your mama can 
bring on Rally Day the name and 
birthday of a new member of the 
Cradle Roll, the baby of some friend 
or neighbor. We know she will try. 


1672. Following Up Rally Day. 

And what has the school been rallied 
to? Is it to drop back into the same 
old rut the next Sunday and remain 
there for fifty more? Has it an un¬ 
varied program, unalterable as the laws 
of the Medes and Persians, something 
like this: Song—Reading—Song— 
Prayer—Lesson Study—Song—Report 
—song? Some schools have, and some¬ 
times the singing is very slow, and the 
prayer very long. If this is the in¬ 
tention, and the school know it from 
past experiences, no wonder they didn’t 
rally, and no wonder that Rally Day 
doesn’t amount to much anyway. Chil¬ 
dren love action. If we want them to 
love the school, its sessions must be 
bright, alive, varied, and never slow. 
Herein lies one cause of the after¬ 
failure of many a well-planned and 
executed Rally Day. It will take time 
and thought and hard work to keep 
the school up to the standard set on 
that day through the rest of the year, 
but the endeavor will pay, neverthe¬ 
less.— Ben Hains. 

1673. A Winning Position. 

Some years ago the Bolton Wan¬ 
derers were playing a match with an¬ 
other well known football team. The 
weather had been stormy, and the 
ground was very muddy. The game 
was exciting and fierce, and the spec¬ 
tators wondered which team was going 
to be the victor. Suttcliffe, the fam¬ 
ous goalkeeper for Bolton, had to fall 
on his knees to save the ball from 
going into the net. It was a marvel¬ 
ous “save.” All over the country the 
telegraphic message was despatched: 
“A marvelous ‘save’ by Suttcliffe on 
his knees I” It is a grand position 
to be in to beat off the forces of evil. 
It is a grand position to be in to win 
for the forces of good. Pray and 
Rally. Rally and Pray.— H. 



RALLY CALL TO MEN 


403 


1674. Rally. Call to Men. 

Dear Feeeow Worker: 

The summer is passing. Vacations 
for this year will soon be over. May 
we do not expect a rally of our full 
membership on the first Sunday of 
September? and in connection with 
that rallying may we hope for and 
expect an increase of membership ? Let 
each member select some man (or 
men) in the community, not now in 
our membership, and plan and labor to 
bring him (or them) to the class 
on the first Sunday in September. 
Let us do this, not because we desire 
a large class simply, or for any such 
reason, but because of the good that 
may come to these men, and to the 
Jcommunity if thay will come in. 
And they will come, if we are earnest 
and persistent in our efforts. 

Yours Truly, 

Leader. 

1675. Plant a Flag. 

An army which never orders a 
muster and a business which never 
takes account of stock, will be 
found poorly fitted to meet emer¬ 
gencies. Not a few churches with 
large enrollment have small congre¬ 
gations, and we have known a Sun¬ 
day school with three hundred names 
upon the record whose usual attend¬ 
ance was between fifty and sixty. 

Pastors and superintendents owe 
it to their charge to call them to¬ 
gether promptly upon the resump¬ 
tion of regular services, and they 
ought to mark the day, as the 
psalmist says, by setting up their 
banners. 

Old soldiers (remember that the 
first thing done at the conclusion of 
a march was to plant a flag. Not 
the mess-table but the colors consti¬ 
tuted the center of the encampment. 
Not the eagles upon the colonel’s 
shoulders gave coherency to the 
troop, but the stars upon the blue- 
field. The man might disappear by 


death or promotion, but the banner 
remained the same. There might be 
tempting groves to the right or 
sweet flowing waters to the left, the 
center of the camp was never de¬ 
termined by shade or fountain but 
by the planting of the flag and the 
loosing of its folds. When Christ’s 
people rally, they should rally about 
the cross .—The Interior. 

1676. Get Them. Keep Them. 

Having gathered the children on 
Rally Day, the next step is to keep 
them. Two things are essential: A 
personal interest shown in each 
scholar, and an interesting school. 
The teachers must be kept inter¬ 
ested if the children are held in the 
school. The superintendent who 
brings his teachers into close personal 
contact with himself—inspiring, en¬ 
thusing and loving them—has accom¬ 
plished much in securing faithful co¬ 
operation. A superintendent’s duties 
are not finished when he has announced 
the closing hymn! 

If the superintendent and teachers 
are interested in their work, there will 
be no trouble in making the sessions 
interesting. 

1677. Steam On and Off. 

The more fully I realize the drift 
of summer habits, the more fully I see 
the need of something like Rally Sun¬ 
day. For good or ill, we as a people 
are getting into the way of crowding 
our activities into the cool season. 
This is true of town life of any size. 
We let on the steam in October, and 
its pressure is on the wheels till the 
latter part of May. Then we shut off 
this energy. We ask for rest, or else 
a lessened measure of action. Not 
only social activities are hushed, but 
the spiritual pace is checked. There 
is a quiet atmosphere in church circles. 
There is also a Sunday school brake 
that is applied, and the train either 
comes to a halt or it is run at greatly 



404 


TEMPERANCE SUNDAY 


lessened speed. It would be hard to 
tell where the boys and girls are if 
the school be continued, if the train 
still be running. They are scattered 
everywhere in the great summer ex¬ 
odus. Hence, I appreciate the good of 
a vigorous trumpet-blast some time in 
September, to get the scattered flock 
together.— Rev. Edward A. Rand. 

1678. A Rally Day Song. 

'Tis a glad day when we rally! 

Now have someone keep the tally, 

And not let a name be lacking from the 
list; 

Hurry! fill up all the classes 
With the happy lads and lasses; 

If you’re not on «hand right promptly, 
you’ll be missed. 

Our vacation time is over; 

We’ll no longer play the rover, 

Every Sunday now shall surely find us 
here; 

There’s no place on earth much 
brighter, 

Or can make a heart the lighter, 

For we come to learn the Gospel of 
good cheer. 

Then, let’s each one bring another 
I/ittle sister, or big brother— 

Not our own, maybe, but borrowed, we 
might say; 

So when next we have our rally. 

And somebody keeps the tally, 

There’ll be present twice as many as to¬ 
day! 

—Helen A. Hawley. 

1679. Rallying for Sunday School 

Work. 

In the dark days of the Civil War, 
when blood and treasure were being 


poured out to preserve the Union, 
and the North was straining every 
nerve to put an end to secession and 
slavery, among the lyrics that greatly 
stirred the hearts of Northerners was 
the song, “Rally Round the Flag!” 
The “songs of the nation” are always 
a potent influence in shaping its devel¬ 
oping life, and this song, though its 
particular occasion has passed by, may 
still appropriately be sung as the. slo¬ 
gan of a great people’s better life. 

Every growing nation always has 
numerous noble causes on hand which 
call for the rallying in their defence.. 
The zeal of many excellent people *i 9 
apt to grow cold in the support of 
any great public or social interest, and 
the necessity of periodic rallying of 
forces for its sustentation accordingly 
appears. The old cry of the color- 
sergeant, in advance of his company, 
while carrying the battle-scarred flag 
into the midst of the carnage, “Bring 
up the men there!” needs to be re¬ 
peated again and again in church and 
society, for there are always laggards 
and cowards who straggle in the rear 
when the sharpest conflict is going on, 
or who refuse altogether to come up 
to the help of the Lord against the 
mighty. 

In the cause of the Sunday school 
the need of this periodic rallying 
clearly appears. 


XXVII. TEMPERANCE SUNDAY 

(Last Sunday in October.) 

1680. The Ermine’s Fear. 


The fur of the ermine is of perfect 
whiteness. The dainty little creature 
apears to make it the business of its 
life to keep clean. So strong in this 
instinct that the ermine will suffer 
capture rather than defilement. Trap¬ 
pers know this fact and use it to the 
destruction of the little creature. They 
will smear filth over the paths that 
the ermine would naturally choose to 


escape, and it falls into the trap be¬ 
cause it keeps itself unspotted. Do 
we so detest the defilment of sin that 
we would suffer rather than become 
defiled? Intemperance is one of the 
most defiling of sins.— H. 

1681. Digging his Grave. 

General Scott was in command of a 
camp, at Rock Island, Ill. Cholera 
made its appearance in the camp, and 



DECEIVING THE DUCKS 


4°5 


the general issued an order that any 
soldier who would be found drunk 
should be compelled, as soon as his 
strength would permit, to dig a grave 
in a suitable burying-place, large 
enough for his own reception, “as such 
a grave cannot fail soon to be wanted 
for the drunken man himself or some 
drunken companion.” In a less literal 
sense, it may be said that every drunk¬ 
ard digs his own grave—the grave, at 
least, of his health, will-power, and 
ambition.— The Youth's Companion. 

1682. Bottles and Rags. 

An old junk dealer who used to call 
out from alley to alley, “Bottles and 
rags,” was asked why he thus classi¬ 
fied the things he wanted to buy. He 
replied: “Well, you know, where you 
find bottles you always find rags.” 

1683. Deceiving the Ducks. 

It is said that when the Chinese 
fowler sees a number of ducks settled 
on a pool, and wants to catch them, 
he lets float out from him two or three 
large hollow gourds. When these ap¬ 
proach the ducks they are at first 
afraid, but soon lose their timidity. 
When the fowler sees this, he wades 
out slowly among the ducks, having 
over his head and shoulders a large 
gourd with holes to see and breathe 
through. He stealthily approaches a 
duck, and seizing it by the legs draws 
it under the water, fastens it to his 
girdle, and proceeds to catch more until 
his girdle is full; then he wades out, 
chuckling at his skill in deceiving the 
silly ducks with his gourd shells. Yet 
many who think they are vastly wiser 
than the silly duck are decoyed by the 
selfish fascinations of evil company, 
questionable amusements, and the wine- 
oup, and fastened to the girdle of their 
cruel, mocking fowler, Satan.— Louis 
Albert Banks, D.D. 

1684. What Whiskey Will Do. 

A temperance orator was being con¬ 
stantly interrupted by a man in the 


audience. When the speaker con¬ 
demned whiskey, the interrupter broke 
in with: “But it’s a medicine. A 
strong glass of hot whiskey and water 
will break up a cold.” “And eight 
glasses will break up a home.” The 
orator retorted.— William J. Hart, 
D.D. 

1685. Bad Business. 

An English drinking fountain 
(water) was closed because it was 
suspected of containing fever germs. 
In the same town, a saloon, bearing 
the name “The Fountain” was per¬ 
mitted to run and pour forth a con¬ 
tinual stream of misery, crime, 
poverty, suicide, insanity. 

1686. Fighting Fire. 

James Robertson, the home mission¬ 
ary pioneer of Western Canada, has 
found an enthusiastic biographer in 
Ralph Connor. He tells us that Rob¬ 
ertson was “a man with the best of 
them” before he left his Ontario parish 
for his heroic struggle in Manitoba. 
One Sunday evening a hotel took fire, 
and, the alarm being sounded, Rob¬ 
ertson dismissed the congregation, 
took command of the bucket brigade, 
and succeeded in saving the building. 
Exhausted by the tremendous strain 
under which he had been, a bottle of 
brandy was brought him by the grate¬ 
ful landlord. But Robertson seized 
the bottle by the neck, swung it round 
his head, and dashed it against the 
brick wall, exclaiming “That’s a fire 
that never can be put out.”— William 
S. C. Webster. 

1687. The Key is There. 

Just outside a cemetery stood a 
liquor saloon. A sign on the corner 
of the saloon read as follows: “The 
key to the cemetery within.”— Zor. 
B. West. 

1688. Alcohol in Arctic Regions. 

The Arctic traveler, Nansen, was 
asked by a neighbor, “Did you take 



40 6 


KICKING THE TRAPS TO PIECES 


any alcohol with you when you left the 
Fram to make your heroic expedition 
by sledges?” “No,” said Nansen, “had 
I done so I should never have re¬ 
turned.” 

1689. Alcohol in the Tropics. 

“I was with the relief column that 
moved on to Ladysmith,” said Sir 
Frederick Treves. “It was am ex¬ 
tremely trying time from the heat of 
the weather. In the column of some 
thirty thousand men, the first who 
dropped out were not the tall men, or 
the short men, or the big men—but the 
drinkers. They dropped out as clearly 
as if they had been labeled with a 
big letter on their backs .”—Christian 
Endeavor World. 

1690. Drinkers Bad Company. 

The crows, one spring, began to 
pull up a farmer’s young corn, so 
he loaded his gun and went out to 
frighten them away. Now the farmer 
had a parrot, who when he saw the 
crows pulling up the corn, flew over 
and joined them. Presently, bang! 
went the farmer’s gun, and when he 
went to see what execution he had 
done, he found to his surprise, beside 
killing three crows, he had wounded 
his parrot. He took the bird home, 
and the children asked: “What did it, 
papa? What hurt our pretty Poll?” 
“Bad Company! Bad company!” an¬ 
swered the parrot in a solemn voice. 
“Ay, that was it,” said the farmer. 
“Poll was with those wicked crows 
when I fired, and received a shot in¬ 
tended for them. Remember the par¬ 
rot’s fate, children. Beware of bad 
company!” Don’t go and mix with 
those who indulge in strong drink.” 
—Sunday Circle. 

1691. Kicking the Traps to Pieces. 

There is a story of a very good and 
kind-hearted little girl whose brother 
had been setting traps to catch birds. 


The little girl did not approve of this 
at all, and was greatly grieved that he 
should be so cruel. She expostulated 
with him and tried to get him to see 
that he should let the birds alone. 

One day she approached her mother 
with a very beaming face and told her 
that she did not think that any more 
birds would be trapped about there. 
Upon being pressed for the reason for 
her confidence she said that she had 
talked to her brother a number of 
times and begged him to let the birds 
alone. As this did not seem to make it 
sure she said she had prayed to God 
very earnestly in the matter. To 
make it absolutely safe, however, she 
said that she had gone out and kicked 
the traps to pieces. And thus she 
rested in calm and happy assurance. 

Thus in the work of temperance it 
is well to have all the temperance 
lecturers possible, with temperance 
sermons from the pulpits, and tem¬ 
perance articles in the papers, and tem¬ 
perance instruction in the schools and 
the homes, and to have the pledge 
administered to all who can be per¬ 
suaded to take it. It is also never to 
be overlooked that prayer without 
ceasing is to be made to God for the 
removal of the evil. But along with 
this let there be most vigorous and 
ceaseless efforts, in the way of the 
making and enforcing of good laws, 
to kick to pieces the traps that are set 
for the destruction of the souls and 
bodies of the people .—Hercdd and 
Presbyter . 

1692. Between the Boy and the 
Saloon. 

Dr. E. S. Chapman, the anti-saloon 
war-horse of California, relates this 
incident, vouching for its literal truth: 
“I remember well a story which my 
father used to tell from his boyhood 
up in Maine. A certain settler in the 
north woods of Maine let his young 
son, who wanted to go hunting, take 
a gun and trudge off alone into the 



IT BITETH AND STINGETH 


407 


woods through the deep Maine snow. 
The lad was bidden to return within 
a short time, but when he did not 
come the troubled father started out 
to search for his boy. He had not 
followed the trail very far before, to 
his anguish, he saw the tracks of a 
panther mingling with the tracks of 
the lad. A murderous beast was fol¬ 
lowing on his sons steps. Suddenly 
he noticed another trail crossing at 
right angels the trail he had been fol¬ 
lowing. He knelt and examined it 
carefully. The tracks were those of 
his boy, but here were no panther 
tracks. The keen sense of the woods¬ 
man read the story at once. The lad, 
confused and wandering, had circuited 
the adjacent hill, and recrossed his own 
path, but the panther, following be¬ 
hind, had not yet completed the circuit. 
The father’s task was easy: he se¬ 
creted himself near at hand, waited 
until the panther came, and shot it 
dead; then hurried to overtake his 
son.” When he tells the story, Dr. 
Chapman makes this application: 
“We’ve got between the boy and the 
saloon now; let’s shoot the saloon dead 
when it comes by on the trail.” 

P693. It Biteth and Stingeth. 

At the Colonial Temperance Con¬ 
ference held a few years ago in Eng¬ 
land, the king of the Maoris made a 
touching reference to the wholesale 
destruction of his people resulting 
from the introduction of strong drink. 
“Before the white man came,” he said, 
“the beautiful honey-birds flittered 
from flower to flower like feathered 
jewels, thrusting their long tongues 
into the flowers, and sharing the 
sweetness with the stingless native bee. 
But the white man came, and with him 
came the European honey-bee with its 
deadly sting, and the unsuspecting 
birds, thrusting their tongues into the 
flowers, were stung to death, until the 
species has become extinct. It is thus 
that you English have destroyed us. 


Our simple people have thrust their 
tongues into your strong drink, and it 
has stung them to death, and they are 
perishing off the face of the earth.” 
— Rani's Horn. 

1694. The Cause of Stripes. 

Three hundred convicts in the pen¬ 
itentiary of Alabama were asked by 
its chaplain how many of them owed 
their convict stripes to the use of 
liquor, and 281 rose to their feet. 
—Herald and Presbyter. 

1695. Realizing our Dreams. 

A great artist, when asked how he 
could paint such marvelous pictures, 
replied, “I dream dreams, and I see 
visions and then I paint my dreams 
and my visions.” 

The temperance reformation, like 
every other reform, is the bringing in¬ 
to reality, through toil and struggle 
and sacrifice, the dreams of great 
souls. The dream is idle unless it in¬ 
spires to self-denying toil. 

1696. When the Boys Decided. 

I was visiting in a home near the 
river when the boys of the household 
said: “Won’t you come out and see 
our club-room?” So I went with them 
out into her twenty-by-thirty brick- 
paved court, which was used by six 
or eight families. (Some of the chil¬ 
dren preferred the street for a play¬ 
ground, but these lads tried to make 
the best of the premises.) Gleefully 
they took me to a rough shed made of 
waste timbers they had picked up on 
the railway track. How proudly they 
looked at the work of their hands. A 
few newspaper pictures were on the 
walls; a game of checkers rested on 
a chair; a baseball bat was in the 
corner. But the crowning feature was 
a placard which one of the boys had 
laboriously fashioned: No smoking. 
No chewing. No canning beer here. 

“We don’t want none of that, 
’cause we have seen enough of it, and 



408 


TRIFLING WITH A SERPENT 


what awful things come of smoking 
and swearing and canning beer,—es¬ 
pecially the beer,” the maker of the 
notice explained as he noted the direc¬ 
tion of my gaze.— Rev. John T. Farris. 

1697. Made the Squirrels Drunk. 

A policeman at the Capital building 
in Washington saw some little girls 
watching the squirrels which were 
capering about in a very queer fashion. 
The policeman said “Stop that! Don’t 
you know it is against the rules to 
feed peanuts to the squirrels?” “We 
aint a feeding them peanuts, we’re 
giving them candy; and the squirrels 
always do funny things when we give 
them candy.” The policeman said, 
“Give me some of that candy.” It was 
found to be loaded with brandy. The 
“booze drops” sold by many confec¬ 
tioners were given by children to the 
squirrels, and the squirrels by their 
antics showed that they were intox¬ 
icated. Investigation showed that the 
law was not adequate to protect chil¬ 
dren, to say nothing of the squirrels, 
against the seduction of brandy drops. 

1698. Trifling with a Serpent. 

There is a fable that a serpent found 
himself surrounded with a ring of fire, 
and said to a man standing near, “Lift 
me out,” and the answer was, “If I 
do, you will bite me.” Over and over 
the serpent pledged himself that he 
would not do it, and fiinally, the fable 
goes, the young man reached over and 
lifted the serpent from his perilous 
position. But he was no sooner safe 
than his fangs protruded, and he made 
ready to strike with the sting of death. 
“But you promised you would not,” 
said his rescuer. “I know I did,” said 
the serpent, “but it is my nature to 
sting, and I can’t help it.” And this 
is true of strong drink. Men have 
trifled with it, and they imagine that 
when they choose to do so, they can 
break themselves free from its power; 


but it is its nature to sting and kill 
and destroy, and no one is so strong 
that he can overcome it in his own 
strength if it once gets a hold upon his 
life .—Good Tempter Watchword. 

1699. It Hurts Anyway. 

A splendid surgeon was called to go 
ten miles into the country to amputate 
the leg of a farmer who had been 
injured in his machinery, but the sur¬ 
geon drank so freely before and during 
the ride that he was not able properly 
to perform the operation. He failed 
to protect some of the severed nerves, 
and the patient now spends many 
sleepless nights and days of suffering 
from which the doctors say nothing 
but death will relieve him. 

This unfortunate man has always 
been strictly temperate, his children 
and grandchildren are sober and in¬ 
dustrious, and there is not a saloon 
within ten miles, but you couldn’t con¬ 
vince any of that household that 
“whisky won’t hurt you if you let it 
alone .”—Will S. Campbell. 

1700. “Hit Him in the Shoulder.” 

A farmer at Akron, Mo., was at¬ 
tacked by his savage bull in a high- 
fenced yard, and could not escape. A 
hired man came with a gun to shoot 
the beast. “Don’t kill him,” cried the 
farmer, thinking of the loss; “just 
hit him in the shoulder.” The man 
fired as directed, only inflicting a 
wound that maddened the bull, and 
incited him to gore the farmer to 
death. 

There is nothing gained by dealing 
tenderly with the devil. Saul spared 
Agag, and lost his kingdom. Many a 
man has spared his sins, and lost his 
soul. When Elisha tells the king to 
smite, he must strike with all his 
might and when a man enters into the 
work of God, it is his business to 
throw all his energies into the serv¬ 
ice, and wage an uncompromising war- 



PRISON FARE 


409 


fare with every form of evil. Hitting 
in the shoulder does not answer; the 
blow must reach the heart. When 
men really put on the armor of God, 
and fight the good fight of faith, some¬ 
body is likely to get hurt. 

This tender-heartedness which sup¬ 
ports sin and winks at evil-doing, 
which hits the devil in the shoulder, 
and is tender of the feelings of hy¬ 
pocrites and evil-doers, only lays the 
foundation for trouble, and causes 
misery in the end. Christian soldier, 
be steadfast and faithful in your work. 

Let there be no light shoulder taps 
in our fight against intemperance. 

1701. Feel Loud. 

“I will seek it yet again.” Here 
lies the supreme mystery. They “seek 
it yet again,” whether they want to, 
or not. They think they will not, but 
they do. They declare they need not, 
but they must! Shall the tack say to 
the magnet, “I refuse to go!” It is 
a question of chemical affinity. After 
a certain stage of brain deterioration, 
it becomes a mere matter of appet¬ 
ency. Men rush after alcohol as the 
substances in a laboratory rush to¬ 
gether to combine. Yes, you will seek 
it yet again and again and again until 
finally no obstacle can prevent you. 
You will find it, if you have to trample 
over the dead bodies of your loved 
ones. It is hard to restrain oneself 
while speaking on this theme. “Why 
don’t you sing louder, Bobbie?” asked 
the Sunday-school teacher of a little 
fellow who was inaudibly mumbling 
“I want to be an angel.” “I’m singin’ 
as loud as I feel,” he replied. But I 
feel a thousand times as loud as I 
speak .—Sunday School Times. 

1702. At Last. 

“At last!” This is the supreme test. 
What becomes of anything—“at last” ? 
It is not the beginning, but the end, 
that ought to figure in our calculations. 
If a habit or principle leads to trouble 


in the long run, it makes no difference 
how innocent or commendable it seems 
at the start. “In the long run!” There 
are trophies on the athletic grounds 
for the sprinters who excel in a “hun¬ 
dred yard dash,” but the prizes of life 
are all offered for the “long run”! 
What are you, when you reach the 
goal—not what were you when you 
“toed the scratch,” is what your Judge 
will want to know. It isn’t how the 
vessel looks when she leaves the har¬ 
bor, but how she carries her cargo 
when she reaches her destined haven! 
It makes very little difference how the 
first glass of wine affects you. The 
real problem is—what will the ac¬ 
cursed stuff do to you after you have 
been drinking it for years! The great 
moralists have never threatened you 
with the dangers of the first few 
drops ! What they tell you is—that “at 
last it biteth like a serpent and 
stingeth like an adder.” It was this 
very day that a lady came to see me 
about a little child who has been heard 
to cry in her dreams again and again, 
“Go way, papa, you’re drunk! you’re 
drunk.” To these horrors the drink 
habit comes “at last.”— Rev. C. P. 
Goss . 

1705. Hell and Brandy. 

John B. Gough relates that a friend 
said to him: “You are surprised that 
I have sacrificed all that is dear to 
me to this fatal appetite: but when 
that terrible craving comes upon me, 
if you were to offer me with one hand, 
heaven with a cup of cold water, and 
with the other hell, with a glass of 
brandy, I would be compelled by that 
appetite, without a moment’s hesitation 
to take hell and the brandy.” 

1704. Prison Fare. 

A gentleman was once asked if he 
would take some bread and a glass of 
wine. His answer was: “No, I will 
take some bread and a glass of water.” 
His friend smilingly answered, “Bread 



4 io 


LABOR AND LIQUOR 


and water! That is prison fare!” 
“No,” said he, “not prison fare, but 
garrison fare. We cannot afford to 
be off our guard.” 

1705. Labor and Liquor. 

One of the most encouraging signs 
of the times, to temperance men, is the 
very pronounced stand that is being 
taken by labor organizations, both in 
Great Britain and in this country. 
“A very interesting item in this con¬ 
nection, says the Christian Guardian , 
“comes recently from Montreal. At 
a recent meeting of the Trades and 
Labor Council, a letter was read from 
Mr. Mee, president of the Montreal 
Bartenders’ Association, asking per¬ 
mission for the members of that as¬ 
sociation to take part in the Labor 
Day parade. The request was quietly 
refused. The excuse given was that 
the admission of the bartenders to 
the Labor Day parade would have 
damaged the cause of labor; and the 
fear was expressed that the liquor 
trade would probably have tried in the 
end to secure control of the whole 
labor organization, and use it to fur¬ 
ther its own interests. This the 
labor party realizes would be suicidal. 
Labor and liquor are enemies, and can 
never be friends.” 

1706. Thinking of Others. 

“Let no man seek His own, but each 
his neighbor’s good.” One of the 
most distinguished military men now 
living in America was 'some time ago 
at a great public dinner. It was a 
splendid occasion, and the tables were 
surrounded with many famous men 
and brilliantly attired women. At 
every plate there were placed a num¬ 
ber of wine-glasses. The distin¬ 
guished general referred to was 
noticed to take the occasion to turn 
down all his glasses before the ser¬ 
vant came with the wine. A lady, 
sitting at his side, said to him: “Ex¬ 
cuse me. General, but I have noticed 


that on every occasion where I have 
been with you at dinner you have 
always turned down your glasses. 
Do you never drink wine?” “No,” 
replied the general, “I never drink it.” 
“I do not wish to be impertinent,” re¬ 
plied the lady, “but I would very 
much like to know why a man of 
your age and character should feel it 
necessary to refuse the comfort and 
exhilaration of a glass of wine?” 
The general smiled, and said, “I am 
very willing to tell you all there is 
about it. It might be perfectly safe 
for me and no doubt would be, to 
drink a glass of wine with my dinner, 
but yonder is my son sitting at the 
other table. If I do not drink wine 
he will not. If I drink it, he will 
follow my example.”— Rev. Louis Al¬ 
bert Banks, D.D. 

1707. Now March! 

A famous sculptor in Florence, 
working alone and allowing no one to 
see what he was doing, made a statue 
of St. George, and when he showed 
it to his master, it was so life-like 
that the master stood in front of it 
and looking at it from head to foot, 
said to it, “Now march!” 

There are a great many Christian 
men in the situation of that statue. 
They need to be inspired by the call 
to service, and to hear and heed the 
Divine Command, that will send them 
marching forth to battle for right¬ 
eousness. 

1708. Profiting by Experience. 

“I will seek it yet again.” Hooligan 
was an' ape who entertained visi¬ 
tors at the office of an insurance com¬ 
pany in a Chinese treaty port. One 
day, “for the fun of it,” the local 
agent determined to teach the ape to 
drink. Various liquors were tried, 
but Hooligan declined to indulge. At 
length a rich egg-nog was prepared; 
the animal took the proffered glass, 
and finding the beverage to his taste 



HOW DRINK DISFIGURES 


411 


drank it eagerly. In a little while 
poor Hooligan was performing in a 
way he never had before. Next morn¬ 
ing the ape sat disconsolate in a cor¬ 
ner of the yard; he held his aching 
head,'food he would not touch, and 
human society he would have none 
of. A second day of fasting passed, 
but on the third Hooligan was on the 
railing of the back veranda as bright 
as ever. After a time the agent pre¬ 
pared another egg-nog, and gave it to 
the ape. Hooligan tasted the liquid 
cautiously, then with all his strength 
dashed the glass to the floor. As the 
agent told of the matter his listener 
could not help remarking, “Mr. Blank, 
Hooligan is wiser than you are,” and 
wiser than countless others who, 
knowing full well the effects of alco¬ 
holics, “seek it yet again.”— A. M. 
Shumaker. 

1709. For Good Walking. 

Edward Payson Weston, pedestrian: 
“On my long walks during over forty 
years in public life experience has 
taught me that nature should not be 
outraged by the use of artificial stimu¬ 
lants. On my walk from Portland, 
Maine, to Chicago, I drank cold tea. 
On the recent walk from Philadelphia 
to New York in less than twenty- 
four hours, I drank milk and cold 
tea. On any of these walks a single 
glass of wine would have made me 
fail. I sometimes use whiskey on the 
soles of my feet .”—The Sentinel. 

1710. How Drink Disfigures. 

There is an old story of a painter 
who wanted to represent man at his 
best and man at his worst. For the 
fairest type of humanity he chose a 
little child fresh from God’s hand, 
and, having painted its features, he 
looked about for one to represent 
the other type of human nature. 
Features there were about him be¬ 
sotted and brutal; but none quite 


suited him, and so he travelled far 
and wide searching every one, but in 
vain. The years went by and still 
the quest was unavailing, but after a 
long time he found a face so brutal 
that he was willing to take it at his 
model. The story asserts that the 
innocent little child and the debased, 
grown-up man were one and the same 
person. 

1711. An Irish Politician’s Advice. 

Mr. T. P. O’Connor, the brilliant 
Irish politician and writer, gives good 
advice to young men when he says: 
“And let me whisper this word finally 
in your ear: It won’t do you the 
least harm if you are a teetotaler. 
You may lose something, but you 
gain tenfold. I believe in half a 
century from now no man will rise to 
the height of any profession, in the 
field, in the forum, or at the desk, 
who is not a teetotaler .”—The Ameri¬ 
can Issue. 

1712. It Cost Too Much. 

The following incident caused Mr. 
F. N. Charrington to give up all in¬ 
terest in his father’s brewery. “Just 
as I passed the pubic-house, the Ris¬ 
ing Sun, a poor woman, with little 
children dragging at her skirts, pushed 
open the door and said. ‘Oh, Jack, 
do give me some money. The children 
are crying for bread!* The man’s 
only reply was to knock the woman 
down in the gutter. At that moment, 
glancing up, I saw my own name star¬ 
ing me in the face, ‘Charringon, Head, 
and Co.’s Entire’ being written in 
large letters on the sign-board. I 
thought, this is one case in one public- 
house; probably in this house alone 
there are many similiar cases of mis¬ 
ery and wretchedness caused by drink. 
This house is only one out of hundreds 
that we possess; therefore, what a 
fearful amount of degradation and 
sorrow we are responsible for! In 



412 


HARRY LAUDER’S TESTIMONY 


knocking down his wife, the man 
knocked me out of the liquor trade.” 
Mr. Charrington then and there re¬ 
solved to have nothing further to do 
with the trade, and sacrificed a hun¬ 
dred thousand dollars a year in con¬ 
sequence.— W . R. Clark, Manchester, 
Eng. 

1713. Discovered. 

If a sailor discovered a mine-field 
laid by an enemy and ascertained its 
exact whereabout, how much good he 
might do by giving this information 
to all ships likely to be going that 
way! The temperance people have 
discovered exactly where the danger 
of drunkedness lurks; it is in the 
practice of drinking. Not everyone 
who drinks becomes a drunkard, of 
course not; just as not every ship 
that sails through a mine-field gets 
blown up. But there is the danger all 
the same, and when the warning is 
once given it is well to keep as far 
as possible from the place of danger. 
—Sunday School Chronicle. 

1714. Harry Lauder’s Testimony. 

Harry Lauder, the comedian, gave 
this personal testimony: “No man 
can be successful and drink. It does 
not matter who he is, soldier or 
civilian. When I started on the stage 
somebody said, ‘Well, it is a great 
life for dissipation and drinking.’ 
‘Well,’ I said, ‘if there is any success 
to be had through being sober and 
steady, I will get it,’ and I took a 
vow that I would not touch, taste or 
handle strong drink of any discription 
until I had made a name for myself. 
Now that I have made my name 
known all over the world, I see more 
necessity for doing the thing that is 
right than ever before in order to 
hold that reputation. There is more 
need now for me to be sober and 
steady, for I am looked upon as an 
example.” 


1715. Time For the Committal 

Service. 

Bishop McDowell, introducing Sec¬ 
retary Daniels to the Baltimore M. E. 
Conference, said: “The Secretary 
wishes no other liquor about the navy 
than water.” The Secretary in the 
midst of a scathing denunciation of 
the liquor traffic suddenly paused and 
after a moment of thought said: 
“But why speak disrespectfully of the 
dead?” 

1716. Cut It Out. 

There are diseases the only cure for 
which is the surgeon’s knife. In the 
civic body drunkedness is such a dis¬ 
ease. The only real cure is to cut 
off the saloons. This can be done 
only by Federal amendment, for 
liquor men get around every other 
method. 

1717. The Heathen God. 

God have mercy on the Christian 
nations with starvation staring them 
in the face, who surrender their honor 
and sacrifice their child-hood on the 
altars of drink. 

1718. Nobody Wants Him. 

That was a piece of fine oratory 
recently when a lecturer, speaking of 
the drinking young man, said: “The 
railroads don’t want him, the ocean 
liners don’t want him, the banks don’t 
want him, the merchants don’t want 
him.” Then, referring to an adver¬ 
tisement of a saloon-keeper for a 
bartender who does not drink: “the 
saloon-keeper .does not want him.” 
Turning with his most winesome 
smile to the audience, he said: “Now, 
girls, do you want him ?”—Lutheran 
Messenger. 

1719. Target Practice and Rum 

Ration. 

Admiral Sir John Jellicoe is well 
known to be a keen temperance ad- 



HEROES NEEDED YET 


4 i 3 


vocate. “If I were taking a fleet into 
action,” he said once, “I would see 
to it that no intoxicants were served 
out for at least twenty-four hours 
before.” “As regards straight shoot¬ 
ing,” he said on another occasion, 
“it is every one’s experience that 
abstinence is necessary for the highest 
efficiency.” In support of this he 
quoted the statement of Captain 
Ogilvy, the famous gunnery instruc¬ 
tor, who has declared that the effi¬ 
ciency of the men has been proved by 
careful tests to be 30 percent worse 
after the issue of the rum ration than 
before it .—Sunday at Home . 

1720. Heroes Needed Yet. 

A young ihan talking with Wendell 
Phillips once said: “Since the Civil 
War is over there are no battles to 
fight. I am sorry.” The great orator 
led him to the window, and pointing 
across the street said: “See those 
saloons! Such battles are never over, 
my friend.” It may seem that to battle 
against a saloon is to battle against a 
forlorn hope. This cannot be, for 
Christianity stands for a greater 
power than the saloon, and “Chris¬ 
tian people,” says a New York brewer, 
“can down the liquor men whenever 
they try, and they know it. But the 
liquor men’s hope is in working after 
the church people get tired of keep¬ 
ing at work three hundred and sixty- 
five days in a year.” If this is so, who 
then is guiltless? Since the Prohibi¬ 
tion Amendment of the U. S. Consti¬ 
tution has been adopted the saloon 
men are on the run. 

1721. Undesirable Warmth. 

A doctor had forbidden one of his 
patients to take alcohol, and yet the 
man pleaded the need of a stimulant. 
“I get cold, doctor, and it warms me,” 
said the patient. “Precisely,” replied 
the doctor. “See here, this stick is 
cold,” catching up a stick of wood 
from the box on the hearth and putting 


it in the fire. It was soon alight. 
“Now,” said the doctor, “it is quite 
warm but is the stick benefited by 
the warmth?” The invalid watched 
the wood, as first of all there were 
little puffs of smoke and then con¬ 
suming flame. “Of course not,” he 
had to admit at last, “the stick is burn¬ 
ing away.” 

“Well, that is just what you are 
doing when you take alcohol. You 
are literally burning up the delicate 
tissues of your stomach and brain. 
Do you wonder that I hate alcohol 
when I see it destroying men and 
women every day of my life?”— Sun¬ 
day at Home. 

1722. How To Overcome Tempta¬ 

tion. 

“Look not thou upon the wine when 
it is red.” The story is told that a 
man trained his dog not to touch meat 
put before him when the master said 
“No.” When these trying times came, 
the dog’s way of being obedient was 
not to trust himself to look at the 
meat, but always at his master. Isn’t 
that a pointed object lesson for hu¬ 
mans ? Not looking at temptation, not 
letting the mind be filled with the 
power of its attraction, never letting 
it come to look more enticing than 
anything else, but turning away and 
looking toward the Masters’ face—that 
is the sure way of making one’s self 
strong and safe .—Bpworth Herald. 

1723. Not in a Hogshead. 

Holding up a glass of beer, and 
looking through the amber-hued liquid. 
Theodore Roosevelt said: “There is 
not a thought in a hogshead of beer; 
there is not an idea in a whole brew¬ 
ery. It stupifies without invigorating, 
and its effect upon the brain is to stag¬ 
nate thought .”—The Bpworth Herald. 

1724. His Own Chain. 

“Whatsoever a man soweth, that 
shall he also reap.” It is told of a 



414 


HOLD THE REINS 


famous smith of medieval times that, 
having been taken prisoner and im¬ 
mured in a dungeon, he began to ex¬ 
amine the chain that bound him, with 
a view to discover some flaw that 
might make it easier to be broken. 
His hope was vain, for he found, from 
marks upon it, that it was of his own 
workmanship, and it had been his boast 
that none could break a chain that he 
had forged. Thus with the sinner: 
his own hands have forged the chain 
that binds him, a chain which no 
human hand can break.— The Sunday 
School Chronicle. 

1725. Does the Home Influence 

Count? 

“A young man entered my store one 
day,” a merchant told a friend. “He 
told me that he was starving and al¬ 
most naked. While I was talking 
with him, a man came in who employed 
a large number of men. He gave 
his address and promised work to the 
young man, who said he would go. 
I then gave him some clothing and 
money to get underclothing. Next day 
his employer came and told me that 
the poor creature had not come. 
After five months he came in again, 
in as bad a plight as before, and I 
asked him why he had not gone to 
the shop as he had promised. He said 
he could not pass a grog-shop without 
a glass, and he went in and drank till 
the money I gave him was gone. I 
tried to reason with him; told him he 
had a good example in his father’s 
house. ‘You are mistaken,’ he said; 
‘we had whiskey at table in my father’s 
house every day, and I learned to love 
it there.’”— From the Life of Robert 
Carter. 

1726. Hold the Reins. 

An old stagedriver used to boast that 
he had never hurt a passenger, nor a 
horse. He affirmed that he always 
held the reins, and that any horse 


could run away if he were only per¬ 
mitted to get a start. “But,” said he, 
“I never let them get the start! that’s 
the whole secret.” One may feel he 
can control a habit; but it is safer 
not to risk a habit getting a possible 
start. It is better to hold the reins, 
and, like the stagedriver, never let 
the horses get out of hand.— C. B. 
Fisk. 

1727. Not “Obliged” to Abstain. 

That staunch old Scotchman, Dr. 
Arnot, gives a good i lustration of the 
total-abstinence question. You will 
find the world full of people who will 
tell youth that they are not obliged 
to sign away their liberty in order to 
keep on the safe side; that they know 
when they have had enough; that there 
is no danger of their becoming drunk¬ 
ards, and the like. Dr. Arnot says: 
“True, you are not obliged, but here is 
a river we have to cross. It is broad 
and deep and rapid. Whoever falls 
into it is sure to be drowned. Here is 
a narrow foot-bridge, a single timber 
extending across. He who is lithe of 
limb and steady of brain and nerve 
may step over it into safety. Yonder 
is a broad strong bridge. Its founda¬ 
tions are solid rock, its passages are 
wide, its balustrade is high and firm. 
All may cross it in perfect safety,— 
the aged and feeble, the young and 
gay: the tottering wee ones. There 
is no danger there. Now my friends, 
you say: ‘I am not obliged to go yon¬ 
der. Let them go who cannot walk 
this timber.’ True, true, you are not 
obliged; but as for us, we know that 
if we cross that timber, though we 
may go in safety, many others who 
will attempt to follow us will surely 
perish, and we feel better to go by 
the bridge.— Mrs. Mary N. Sturgis. 

1728. Never to Success. 

Said a member of a church near 
Philadelphia, the other day: “I was 



THE FOUR RATS 


4 i 5 


talking to a colored man whom I was 
examining for insurance. The colored 
people are in the habit of using words 
they do not fully understand the mean¬ 
ing of, and as a result they invariably 
misplace them. I asked him, ‘Do you 
drink alcoholic liquors?’ The darkey 
answered, ‘No, I can’t say I does; and 
I can’t say I doesn’t. But I never 
done drink to success.*” 

1729. The Four Rats. 

One morning a man was telling his 
wife and son at the breakfast table 
of a curious dream he had had the 
night before. He dreamed that he 
saw four rats coming to him. The 
first one was very fat, the next two 
were very lean, and the last rat was 
blind. What could the dream mean? 
He feared that it might forbode some 
evil. He asked his wife what it meant 
but she had no idea. His little son 
offered tq be the interpreter. He 
said, “Father, the fat rat is the saloon¬ 
keeper, where you go and spend your 
money; the two lean rats are mother 
and myself, who do not have enough 
to eat because you spend your money 
in drink; and the blind rat is your¬ 
self, father, not knowing where you 
are going, while you follow the fat 
rat.” 

1730. God’s Plan for Strength. 

A medical man asserted that the 
mission of alcohol is a better physical 
development of man. A clergyman in¬ 
quired, “Do you believe in the Bible?” 
“Certainly I do,, as sincerely as your¬ 
self,” was the prompt reply. “If 
your position be correct,” continued 
the clergyman, “what will you do with 
the fact that when God would make 
the strongest man that ever lived, 
Samson, he commanded not only that 
the son should be a total abstainer, 
but the mother also, even before Sam¬ 
son’s birth, lest some taint of physical 
weakness should be imparted to his 
constitution ? God discarded alcohol in 


giving to the world the best example 
of physical strength on record. What 
will you do with that fact?” The doc¬ 
tor was silent.— H. H. Smith. 

1731. God’s Power the Only Hope. 

Dr. Mark Guy Pearse uses this 
illustration: “I stood on the east 
coast of England and looked out over 
a stretch of oozy slime and ill-smell¬ 
ing mud. There were the barges 
high and dry, lying on their sides,— 
no matter what cargo they carried or 
how skillful the captain, they were on 
the mud. It would have availed them 
nothing to heave the anchor or hoist 
the sail. And I thought what is the 
remedy? Were it any use for the cor¬ 
poration to pass a by-law that every 
citizen should bring kettles filled with 
water and pour it out upon the stretch 
of mud? But as I watched I saw the 
remedy. God turned the tide. In 
swept the waters of the sea and buried 
the mud, and then came the breath of 
sweetness and life. And it flowed in 
about the barges, and instantly all was 
activity. Then heave-ho with the 
anchor, then hoist the sails, then forth 
upon some errand of good. So it is 
that we stand looking out upon many 
a dreadful evil that fills us with dis¬ 
may, — drunkenness, gambling, im¬ 
purity. Is there any remedy? And the 
churches, so very respectable, but alas ! 
high and dry on the mud,—for these, 
too, what is the remedy? We want 
the flood-tide—the gracious outpour¬ 
ing of the Spirit; then must come the 
roused and quickened churches; the 
Christians transformed into Christlike 
men and women who shall demand 
righteousness .”—Juniata Rohrback. 

1732. What the Saloon Unlocks. 

Statistics declare that many thou¬ 
sands of premature deaths occur each 
year through strong drink. Just out¬ 
side a cemetery stood a liquor saloon. 
It was close by the main entrance, and 



4 i 6 


WHAT FATHER TAKES 


a gate must be unlocked to admit each 
body. A sign on the corner of the 
saloon read as follows: “The key to 
the cemetery within .”—The Sunday 
School Chronicle. 

1733. Taking the Consequences. 

It is sometimes said, “If a man is a 
fool enough to drink, let him take the 
consequences,” but that is wide of the 
mark. A man drinks and his wife and 
children take the consequences. A 
son drinks, and parents take the con¬ 
sequences. The drink-crazed brain 
leads to pauperism, incendiarism, 
crime, insanity, murder, and the State 
takes the consequences. A man car- 
rouses Saturday night and Sunday and 
goes to the shop Monday morning with 
beclouded brain and unsteady hand and 
the employer takes the consequences. 
The real white slave is the wife of 
the drunkard. When will the Ameri¬ 
can conscience be quickened to the 
point of understanding that it is not 
sound sense nor good judgment to say 
a man may do as he pleases about 
the use of strong drink? 

1734. What Father Takes. 

There is a story told of a father 
who took his little boy one morning 
into the city, where he transacted his 
business. When noon came he took 
his boy into a restaurant where he 
often had lunch. The waiter, on re¬ 
ceiving the order, and knowing that it 
was the father’s custom to have a 
bottle of wine, asked the boy what 
he would have to drink. The boy re¬ 
plied: “I’ll take what father takes.” 
The father, realizing the serious situ¬ 
ation, quietly beckoned the waiter and 
countermanded the order. During the 
afternoon when he went to his office 
the words of his boy—“I’ll take what 
father takes”—were constantly ring¬ 
ing in his ears. He went home in the 
evening rather troubled; and, after 
having dinner, retired to his study, 


but he could do no work, for he could 
not forget the words of his boy—“I’ll 
take what father takes”—and, feeling 
that he could bear it no longer, he 
determined to settle the matter. He 
knelt down and, prayed to God for 
guidance, and from that night he re¬ 
solved that he would never touch the 
drink again, or anything else which 
might be a source of danger to others. 
— Rev. J. A. Sharp. 

1735 - Why Did They Write? 

A young man some years ago was 
found drowned in the Mersey. On a 
paper found in his pocket was written, 
“A Wasted Life.—Do not ask any¬ 
thing about me; drink was the cause.” 
Within a week of the publication of 
these particulars the coroner of Liver¬ 
pool received two hundred letters from 
fathers and mothers all over England 
asking for a description of the young 
man .—Sunday School Chronicle. 

1736. Dependence on One. 

A young man in a London omnibus 
noticed the blue-ribbon total abstin¬ 
ence badge on a fellow-passenger’s 
coat, and asked him in a bantering 
tone “how much he got” for wearing 
it. “That I cannot exactly say,” re¬ 
plied the other, “but it costs me about 
20,000 a year.” The wearer of the 
badge was Frederick Charrington, son 
of a rich brewer, and the intended suc¬ 
cessor of his father’s business. He 
preferred a life of Christian philan¬ 
thropy to a career of money-making; 
and his activity soon made him known 
throughout the kingdom as a most suc¬ 
cessful temperance evangelist. His 
work, organized in the tent-meeting 
on Mile End Road, has grown steadily 
for twenty years, and now fills “the 
largest mission hall in the world.” 

I 737* Fruit of the Spirit Love. 

After a winter’s campaign in the 
west, Mr. C. N. Howard tells the 



LUNATICS AT LARGE 


following story. In a certain town the 
temperance people and the liquor 
people planned to have street parades 
upon the same day, the parades to 
start from opposite ends of the town. 
At the head of the liquor procession 
a man carried a banner marked “Men, 
Vote for Your Liberty.” At the head 
of the temperance procession a little 
boy carried a banner,—“Fathers, Vote 
to Save Your Sons.” As the proces¬ 
sions met, the man threw down his 
banner, ran to the boy, and, raising 
him upon his shoulder, faced about 
and himself headed the temperance 
parade. The boy was his own son. 
The fruit of the Spirit is love. 

1738. Self-control for Others* 
Sakes. 

“Nor anything whereby thy brother 
stumbleth.” To observe this rule is 
a test of real manhood. 

Two hundred feet above the East 
River two men were working on the 
Manhattan Tower of the Queensboro 
Bridge. Ten feet below, half a dozen 
workmen were engaged, and farther 
down others, perhaps a score in all, 
toiled each at his particular task. A 
steel beam of several ton’s weight was 
lowered, on the day in question, to its 
proper position, the business of the 
two men being to guide it into place. 
Before the great weight of steel could 
be securely fastened it began to slip, 
and the efforts of the two men were 
powerless to keep it from sliding to¬ 
ward the open space below. They had 
only to stand out of the way to see 
many of their fellow-workmen 
crushed to death. An instant for de¬ 
cision and one brave fellow gasped, 
“I’ll stick to it if you will.” The other 
nodded, and the two held on grimly 
until their fellow-workmen could 
swarm up the ladders, and again at¬ 
tach the derricks to the mighty beam. 
In the meantime a hand of each of the 
heroes had been ground off at the 
wrist. Why won’t men do the easier 
27 


4 U 


things of self-control for their 
brothers’ sakes ?— Harper’s Weekly. 

1739. Lunatics At Large. 

Why an intoxicated man, or one 
under the influence of alcohol to any 
degree, should be allowed to drive an 
automobile, or why people should en¬ 
trust their lives to the impaired 
judgment, dull hearing, dim eye and 
unsteady nerves of such a man is in¬ 
deed strange. Unfortunately such a 
person is almost as dangerous to 
pedestrians and other people as to him¬ 
self and those who ride with him. 

A man who wickedly imperils life, 
limb and property should be treated 
as a criminal and punished accordingly. 
The officer of the law who lets such 
people off with a reprimand and a 
small fine is little less guilty than 
they are. 

Lunatics at large are always danger¬ 
ous, but especially so when armed 
with such a deadly weapon as the 
automobile. 

1740. Christianity and Liquor, the 

Habit Opposed. 

Professor R. H. Walker told the 
following incident on his return from 
a tour of our missions in the Far East. 
While passing down a river in Korea 
he had as fellow-passengers two Jap- 
enese merchants. At dinner time he 
placed his lunch upon a table, and 
they made as if they would join 
him. On his consent they made ready, 
but first withdrew to the ship’s 
steward and returned with three bot¬ 
tles of beer and three glasses. When 
the glasses had ben filled one was 
passed to Profesor Walker, who de¬ 
clined it. For six or seven minutes this 
continued, they offering and he declin¬ 
ing. Finally a thought seemed to 
strike one of them. He took a pencil 
and paper, and marked something upon 
it and held it up before Profesesor 
Walker and watched his face. A nod 



418 


WHAT WAKENED HIM UP 


from the latter settled it. No more 
beer was offered him. The Japanese 
had marked a cross upon the paper, 
having learned something of its mean¬ 
ing to the Christian. And the Japa¬ 
nese was right. The cross of Christ 
and the liquor habit are opposed to 
one another.— M. B. Watson. 

1741. The Substitute. 

Mr. Henry J. Allen, of Kansas, 
lately quoted from a brewer’s circular, 
“beer may be substituted for bread,” 
and proceeded to say: “Frequently it 
is also substituted for shoes, and 
school-books, and clothes, and meat, 
and house-rent and furniture. In fact, 
a liberal use of it will make it a sub¬ 
stitute for everything except the 
grave .”—The National Advocate. 

1742. After Using. 

On the shore of one of the narrow¬ 
est parts of that dangerous waterway 
known as “The Inside Route” to Al¬ 
aska there rests the hull of a wrecked 
ship. It is an object that immediately 
attracts the eyes of all who voyage 
that way. A whiskey manufacturer 
decided that here was an excellent 
opportunity to advertise his bottle 
goods. So he had painted in huge 
letters on the side of the wrecked 
ship, “Use Rednose Whiskey.” And 
it was here that a teetotaler saw his 
opportunity for a short but vivid ser¬ 
mon. A few weeks later the side of 
the wrecked ship blossomed forth with 
these two additional words in equally 
big letters: “I did .”—The Northern 
Messenger. 

1743 * Why a Ball Player Was Not 
Signed. 

A daily paper says that a scout of 
one of the National League teams 
was in a small minor-league town 
looking over a player who had been 
recommended to him. The work of 
the player impressed the scout and he 
decided to have a talk with him that 


night. Shielding his identity, he 
started a conversation with the player 
at his hotel. During the talk the 
player had occasion to pull out his 
key ring. In addition to the keys the 
scout saw a corkscrew and beer opener 
attached. The scout ended the con¬ 
versation and left town that night 
without buying the player. The fact 
that drink makes a man unreliable and 
inefficient is too well known to-day to 
risk signing a ball player who uses 
strong drink. 

1744. What Wakened Him Up. 

“Papa will you please give me 
half-a-crown for my new hat?” asked 
a school girl of her father one morn¬ 
ing. “No, May; I can’t spare the 
money.” The refusal came from the 
parent in a curt, indifferent tone. The 
disappointed girl went to school. The 
father started for his place of busi¬ 
ness. On his way he met a friend, and 
invited him into a tavern for a drink. 
And the man who could not spare 
his daughter half-a-crown for a hat 
laid down that sum on the counter, 
which just paid for the drinks. Just 
then the saloon-keeper’s daughter en¬ 
tered, and said, “Papa, I want half-a- 
crown for my new hat.” “All right,” 
said the dealer, and taking up the coin 
from the counter handed it to the girl, 
who departed smiling. May’s father 
was dazed, walked out alone, and said 
to himself, “To think I should have 
brought my money here for the rum- 
seller’s daughter to buy a hat with, 
after refusing it to my own daughter. 
I’ll never drink another drop.” He 
kept his pledge .—The Christian Her¬ 
ald. 

T 745 - That Blessed Word “Which.” 

“I’ve been thanking the good Lord 
all day for that blessed word ‘which,’ ” 
said John to his friend. “That blessed 
word ‘which,’” replied his astonished 
companion; “what on earth do you 



ZEPPELIN RULES 


419 


mean?” “Well,” explained John, “it’s 
like this. For many years I gave way 
to drink. Our home was a poor sort 
of place. My Mary hadn’t a very 
nice life of it. But she bore it all 
like a saint, and never murmured. And 
in those days I had no clothes except 
those I stood up in. But last year I 
started going to church with my Mary. 
And one night I was converted. And 
my, the difference it made! Why, last 
night my Mary was upstairs, and I 
called out to her to bring my clothes 
down when she came. And what do 
you think she called back ? She 
shouted ‘which?’ And oh, it made me 
feel good to hear my Mary ask me 
that! And I’ve been thanking the good 
Lord all day for that blessed word 
‘which’ ” 

1746. How Drink Depraves. 

“Beware, I pray thee, and drink no 
wine or strong drink.” Judges 13: 4. 

There is no counterbalance in all the 
world like the woman who does not 
weigh the merits of her lover’s heart 
by the gravity of his faults. It 
takes a great love to endure under a 
great strain. But when the night of 
storm has passed—as pass it must— 
that woman is the one woman in all 
the world to him. Sometime, after 
a debauch, the man would be repen¬ 
tant. He would promise his wife to 
do better. But alas! the years had 
taught her the barrenness of all such 
promises. 

And one night when he was getting 
old—a prematurely old man, thin- 
limbed, stoop-shouldered, red-rimmed 
eyes—he said to his wife, sadly: 
“You’re a clever woman, Jenny; a 
courageous, active, good woman. You 
should have married a better man 
than I am, dear.” 

She looked at him and—in the far- 
off vision of those happy years— 
thinking of what he had been, she 
answered in her quiet, sweet voice: 
“I did, James.” 


There is a whole temperance ad¬ 
dress here. How a real woman’s 
heart can ache! What a difference 
drink can make in a man!— H. 

1747* A Revival of Common Sense. 

Moses was a man of sense. Read 
this old law. If an ox gore a woman 
and she die, the ox shall be killed; 
but the owner shall not suffer. If, 
however an ox is known to be in the 
habit of goring people, he shall die 
and the owner shall be held respon¬ 
sible. Common sense! The menace 
must be killed. The saloon is the 
modern ox that gores its millions. 
Shall we continue to protect it? Pray 
for a revival of Mosaic common sense. 
— Rev. R. P. Anderson. 

1748. Zeppelin Rules. 

“Be not deceived; God is mocked; 
whatsoever a man soweth that shall he 
also reap.” 

“A Zeppelin is the strictest Sunday 
school institution, no drinks and no 
smokes,” said Lieutenant-Commander 
Marthy of the first air-ship that 
dropped bombs on London. He added, 
“We ate before we started, and then 
occasionally took a pull at the thermos 
bottle of hot coffee or tea.” “Nothing 
stronger?” broke in the World re¬ 
porter. “No, absolutely nothing 
stronger. Zeppelins have neither bar, 
kitchen, pantry, nor dinning-room. 
Zeppelins are teetotalers. We have 
got to have clear heads up there, and 
cool, steady nerves—nerves which 
spirits don’t necessarily furnish.” 

1749. Travel That Way. 

Norman Hapgood, the editor, quoted 
in an address on Lincoln a Lincoln 
saying of value to parents. “Lincoln,” 
said Mr. Hapgood, “was once talking 
to a dissipated man of middle age who 
was lamenting the fact that his seven¬ 
teen-year-old son had just begun to 
indulge in liquor. ‘Well, there is just 
one way,” said Lincoln, “to bring up a 



420 


HELPED HIS BUSINESS 


child in the way it should go, and that 
is to travel that way yourself.” 

1750. ‘'Booze Did It.” 

The ex-pugilist, John L. Sullivan, 
who, years ago, carried everything be¬ 
fore him, as the heavyweight prize¬ 
fighter, fell before the destroying 
power of poison drink, and cried, 
loudly, but unavailingly, when it was 
too late: “It was booze that did it.” 
After years of sorrowful and brood¬ 
ing retirement from his former ac¬ 
tivities he has taken the temperance 
platform and is urging and predicting 
the overthrow of this enemy of human 
welfare. At one time in his life he 
would not believe that temperance ad¬ 
vocates were right, but now he sees 
it. So there are many who will 
not agree with the temperance leaders 
to-day, but if they go wrong there 
is destruction before them. There is 
only one side to this matter. It is 
folly to be on the wrong side. 

1751. Can They Answer? 

The following electric signs have 
been installed over each of the three 
entrances of the Illinois Steel Com¬ 
pany: “Did booze ever do you any 
good?” “Did booze ever get you a 
better job?” “Did booze ever con¬ 
tribute anything to the happiness of 
your family?” Let every booze artist 
and every friend of the sale of liquor 
answer. They dare not meet this 
issue, but so construct their arguments 
as to dodge. 

1752. Had Tried It. 

Everybody’s Magazine tells of a 
police-court magistrate who was ap¬ 
proached by a distiller who asked him 
if he had ever tried his special brand 
of whiskey. “No,” said the judge, 
“but I tried three men in court this 
morning who had tried it.” 

1753. A Step Toward Cure. 

A judge in Chicago has had a large 
mirror placed in his courtroom, so 


that every man brought before him 
for intoxication may take a good look 
at himself. He believes that seeing 
themselves as they are when drunk 
will cure half of them. 

1754. A Telling Fact. 

Drinkers spend, on the average, 
twice as much for their intoxicants as 
for their food. So says the American 
Grocer, the organ of the grocer trade, 
after careful investigation. 

1755. Helped His Business. 

“If any man here,” shouted the tem¬ 
perance speaker, “can name an honest 
business that has been helped by the 
saloon I will spend the rest of my 
life working for the liquor people.” 
A man in the audience arose. “I con¬ 
sider my business honest,” he said, 
“and it has been helped by the saloon-” 
“What is your business?” yelled the 
orator. “I, sir,” responded the man, 
“am an undertaker.” 

1756. A Drink Tragedy. 

Father came home one evening in- 
toxocated for the first time in his life, 
and his boy met him on the doorstep, 
clapping his hands and exclaiming, 
“Papa has come home!” The father 
seized him by the shoulder, swung him 
around, staggered, and fell in the hall. 
The boy’s head struck a marble step, 
and he was instantly killed. The wife, 
who was ill, was thrown into convul¬ 
sions by the tragic scene. And that 
night this father and husband, a strong 
man of thirty-five years, slept a 
drunken sleep while his boy lay a 
corpse, and his wife was upon the 
brink of the grave. 

One year after that he was laid in 
the cemetery by the side of his wife 
and child. The minister who related 
this incident was a guest in that home 
on that fatal night, and witnessed the 
tragedy .—The Instructor. 



STRAIGHT TALK BY HARRY LAUDER 


421 


1757. Straight Talk by Harry 
Lauder. 

On March 4th the Rotary Club, of 
Manchester, England, gave a dinner at 
midday to Harry Lauder, the come¬ 
dian. A Scottish menu was served in 
his honor, and the haggis was duly 
played by a piper. 

On the table was arrayed beer, wine 
and spirits galore. 

And Harry proceeded to lecture his 
hosts on the exhibit. Said he: 

“We, as Rotarians, meet as a busi¬ 
ness proposition in the middle of the 
day, when drink is not necessary. You 
may take one, two or three and go 
back to business ’muzzy! You can’t 
do your busines if you are in a state 
of ‘muzziness.’ When you have fin¬ 
ished you can drink as much as you 
like but do it alone. If you are going 
to hell, go by yourself: don’t drag 
anyone with you. I have gone into 
clubs—not often, thank God—and seen 
a fellow come in when every other 
place was closed. He was regarded 
as a jolly good fellow, and every¬ 
body clapped him on the back and 
laughed. Did his people at home 
laugh ?” 

That was rather stiff talk to put up 
to one’s hosts, right to their faces. 
It takes a Scotchman to do that. 

What a great nubbin of philosophy 
there was in Lauder’s utterance: “If 
you are going to hell, go alone!” 

Why should one drag his wife and 
children down with him? 

Why should one insist on the estab¬ 
lishment of a saloon to help drag his 
neighbors along? 

Why should the business of drag¬ 
ging others down to the pit be com¬ 
mercialized for the benefit of the 
school fund? 

Why should the government provide 
the facilities for helping people along 
down to the pit? 

“If you are going to hell,” why not 
take Lauder’s advice and go alone?— 
New Republic. 


1758. A Maine Man’s Memories. 

An editor of a paper in Portland, 
Maine, who was inclined to oppose 
prohibition for political reasons, had 
grown up in a little village about sixty 
miles from Bangor and was asked, 
“Do you remember the condition of 
things in your village prior to pro¬ 
hibition?” and “What has been the 
effect of prohibition?” He answered, 
“It shut up all the rum-shops, and 
practically banished liquor from the 
village, which became one of the most 
quiet and prosperous places in the 
world.” “How long did you live in the 
village after prohibition?” “Eleven 
years, or until I was twenty-one years 
of age.” “Do you drink now?” “I’ve 
never tasted a drop of liquor in my 
life.” “Why?” “Up to the age of 
twenty-one I never saw it, and I do 
not care to take up the habit .”—Home 
Herald. 

1759. Liquor and Racial Degenera¬ 

tion. 

Professor Stockard, of the Cornell 
University Medical College, has made 
extensive experiments with the guinea- 
pigs subjected to alcohol fumes. 
When mated, these animals either had 
no offspring or the offspring were 
small, unhealthy, and died young. The 
effect was the same whether the males 
or the females were alcoholized. Al¬ 
cohol always leads to racial degener¬ 
ation. 

1760. Two Temperance Pointers. 

An emigrant going West carried a 
jug fastened to his wagon. He ex¬ 
plained to inquirers that it was “the 
Taylor Jug.” General Taylor had 
once advised his son to carry his 
whiskey-jug with a hole in the bottom. 
He did it, and found it the best of in¬ 
ventions to keep a man sober. 

Sir Thomas Lipton warns young 
men who would succeed to beware of 



422 


A MESSAGE FROM GENERAL GRANT 


strong drink. “Remember/* says this 
famous merchant and yachtman, “that 
corkscrews have sunk more people 
than cork jackets will ever save.” 

1761. A Message From General 
Grant. 

Tell the young men that General 
Grant does not drink a drop of liquor 
—has not for eighteen years—because 
he is afraid to drink it. I tried to 
drink with extreme moderation, be¬ 
cause I knew that alcohol is the worst 
poison a man could take into his sys¬ 
tem, but I found it was an absolute 
impossibility to drink moderately. Be¬ 
cause moderate drinking is a practical 
impossibility, I became an absolute 
teetotaler—a crank, if you please. I 
do not use it even in my house. Drink 
is the greatest curse, because prac¬ 
tically all crime and all disaster are 
the result of it. Ninety-five per cent 
of desertions and acts of lawlessness 
in the army are due to drink. If I 
could, by offering my body a sacrifice, 
free the country from the fell cancer, 
the demon drink, I’d thank the Al¬ 
mighty for the privilege of doing it. 
If I had the greatest appointive 
powers in the country, no man would 
get even the smallest appointment 
from me unless he showed proof 
of his absolute teetotalism. As it is, 
of my own appointees, the members of 
my staff, not one of them touches a 
drop .—Frederick D. Grant. 


1762. Was It Well to Be a Teeto¬ 
taler? 

A group of clergymen were dis¬ 
cussing the subject as to whether it 
was ever right for ministers to drink 
wine. One said, “I am never asked to 
take a glass of wine without recalling 
an incident in my early ministry when 
I came very near yielding with, as I 
found out later, fatal results. When 
I left the seminary, I determined to 
be, not a temperance man, but a total 
abstainer. I had been at my first 
charge for only a few months when I 
was invited to celebrate the eightieth 
birthday of one of my most honored 
parishorters. As the champagne was 
passed around the table, the thought 
came to me, 'Surely, this is one place 
that I should break my resolution. 
Will 'it not look very churlish to 
refuse to drink the health of this 
noble woman?’ But before the but¬ 
ler reached my plate, I determined to 
adhere to my usual custom, and simply 
turned down my glass. Imagine my 
joy, a few hours later, when one of 
the ladies present told me that her son, 
just about entering college, had told 
her that day: ‘I haven’t quite made 
up my mind about signing the pledge 
before I leave for Yale. I am just 
going to let it depend on what Mr. 
Brown does to-night. If such a good 
man as he takes it, there can be no 
harm in it.’ ” After a pause, the 
clergyman added: “Friends, do you 
wonder that I never touch it?”— 7 . 
M. B. 


XXVIII ELECTION DAY 

(Usually Early in November) 


General recognition is being made 
of Good-Citizenship Day, or, in short 
form, Citizenship Day, wisely set be¬ 
fore Election Day, on the third Sun¬ 
day of October. It is recognized 
among the hundreds of thousands of 


Christian Endeavor and other young 
people’s societies, by a number of gov¬ 
ernors of states and other civil of¬ 
ficers. The end in view is the making 
of better citizens by the stimulating 
of patriotism, of better voting, and the 



SACREDNESS OF THE BALLOT 


4 2 3 


arousing of interest in the great 
national “problems of the day through 
special sermons from the pulpit, 
special services in the Sunday 
schools, union mass meetings and in 
other suitable ways. 

1763. Sacredness of the Ballot. 

The ballot is the instrument of de¬ 
mocracy. People had no ballots in 
days when autocrats ruled. The will 
of the king was law and the advice of 
the people was not asked. Yes, the 
ballot is the instrument of democracy; 
through it the people express their 
opinion. The voting community is 
divided into three classes; bad men 
who vote for bad measures, usually 
because they are going to benefit in 
some way by these measures; good 
men who vote as they pray; and the 
many indifferent voters who vote with 
the crowd, or who do not vote at all. 
To which class should the Christian 
belong? 

1764. A Vote Is a Voice. 

It has been well said that a vote is 
a voice. Sometimes we can use our 
“voice” in protest apart from an elec¬ 
tion. Dr. Wilbur F. Crafts, tells of 
a mayor of St. Paul who permitted 
law-breakers to erect a pavilion in 
which to hold a prizefight. A few 
good citizens called a public meeting, 
and although two newspapers, owned 
by people interested in the fight, op¬ 
posed the objectors, a great crowd 
gathered to protest. The meeting de¬ 
clared that the mayor, in giving per¬ 
mission for lawbreaking, had violated 
his oath, and the citizens called upon 
the governor to enforce the law 
through the sheriff. The governor 
listened to this “vote” or “voice” of 
the people and commanded the sheriff 
to prevent the fight. A company of 
militia camped in the pavilion, and 
there was no fight. That is one way, 
then, in which people can use the 
vote. 


1765. Character In Votes. 

The power of example in faithfully 
discharging a civic or religious duty 
is shown in the story by Henry Van 
Dyke, of the old doctor, a saint, a 
sage, a joy to every heart in the 
place; everybody knew and loved 
him. Every election day he drove to 
the polls in his carryall, driven by an 
illiterate Irishman. He went in and 
voted the Republican ticket, and then 
came out and 'held the reins while 
Pat went in and voted the Democratic 
ticket, saying with a grin as he came 
out: ‘Begorra, I nulligated th’ ould 
dochter’s vote.” But did he? Besides 
the actual ballot itself, there was 
what may have been a mightier if a 
more subtle factor in the politics of 
the town—the power of a wise and 
venerable man, steadfastly performing 
a simple duty of citizenship, that 
counted far beyond the ballot he had 
dropped into the box. That is where 
character registers its vote, in the 
town, in the nation, in the kingdom. 

1766. The Eve of Election. 

Along the street the shadows meet 
Of Destiny, whose hands conceal 
The moulds of fate that shape the State, 
And make or mar the commonweal. 

Around I see the powers that be; 

I stand by Empire's primal springs; 
And princes meet in every street, 

And hear the tread of uncrowned 
kings! 

No jest is this; one cast amiss 

May blast the hope of Freedom’s year. 
O, take me where are hearts of prayer, 
And foreheads bowed in reverent fearl 

Not lightly fall beyond recall 

The written scrolls a breath can float; 
The crowning fact, the kingliest act 
Of freedom is the freeman’s vote. 

— Whittier . 

1767. Power of One Vote. 

Even good men are liable to say: 
“O” my one vote will not affect the 
election one way or another; it 
doesn’t matter 'whether I go to the 
polls or not.” But suppose, 1,000 or 
10,000 men say the same thing, will 
not the result be affected? But, 



424 


FAILING TO VOTE 


history is filled with instances where 
even one single 'vote has decided elec¬ 
tions of tremendous importance. One 
vote gave Texas to the United States, 
and thus caused the war with Mexico. 
One vote made California a part of 
the Union, and thus turned the tide 
of immigration westward. One vote 
elected Oliver Cromwell to the famous 
“Long Parliment,” and sent Charles 
I to the scaffold, revolutionized Eng¬ 
land, and made Great Britain free. 
One vote elected Governor Morton of 
Massachusetts in 1839, thus defeating 
Edward Everett, the famous orator, 
statesman and scholar. One vote in 
the electoral college in 1876 decided 
who should be President of the United 
States. 

Your one vote, then, may some time 
decide who shall be President or who 
shall be governor, or who shall repre¬ 
sent you in the United States Con¬ 
gress, and in many towns it may 
decide whether for two years to come 
the towns shall be drunk or sober. 
Therefore, let no man underestimate 
the importance of his one vote! 

1768. Autumn Rain. 

(With apologies to Robert Loveman.) 

It is not raining rain to me, 

It’s raining Candidates. 

Wherever I may look I see 

Their bright and bulgent pates. 

A cloud of words obscures the sky, 
And paragraphs pour down, 

And drench with dank verbosity 
The countryside and town. 

It is not raining rain to me, 

But issues void of ish; 

And isms stuffed with lunacy 
Like bones inside a fish. 

The thunders crash on land and sea, 
The air seems full of bricks— 

It is not raining rain to me, 

It’s raining Politics. 

—Author Unknown . 

1769. So Everybody’s Happy. 

And this is the time of year when 
men ask each other, “How did your 
wife vote?” And the men answer, 
“She voted the same way I did.” And 
the women ask each other, “Did you 


vote the way your husband did?” 
And they answer, “He thinks I did.” 

1770. Few Voters. 

Voting is a plant of slow growth. 
It has taken a century and a half to 
get to the polls haft of the total num¬ 
ber of voters who can cast their bal¬ 
lot if they choose. New York having 
been close for a century, its voting 
vote runs up to four-fifths or even 
more. The possibility of success 
brings out the vote of both parties. 
Pennsylvania, 'being one-sided, with 
a heavy Republican majority, does 
not often vote haft its possible voters. 
This is the proportion of most Euro¬ 
pean countries. Only half the voters 
go to the polls in-France, Spain, and 
Italy. Germany does better. The 
voting English vote was once not 
over half of those who could vote. 
This has improved. The vote there 
actually cast now approaches our pro¬ 
portion in closely contested states.— 
Talcott Williams. 

1771. Failing To Vote. 

Dr. Robert S. McArthur once said 
that he would, if it were within his 
power, refuse the ‘sacraments of the 
church to the man who refuses to go 
to the ballot box on election day. 

Barrie has drawn a pathetic char¬ 
acter, in the “Sentimental ‘Tommy” 
books, Aaron Latta, the man who de¬ 
nied his manhood. Thenceforth the 
humiliated creature refused to take 
his place among men; he had been 
false to the first duty of his sex, and 
so should be an outcast. Somehow, 
poor Aaron Latta comes to mind as 
I contemplate the spectacle of the 
“good” men who fail to vote on elec¬ 
tion ‘day. They are emasculated pa¬ 
triots. Even as Aaron Latta went 
about his cooking and housewifery in 
an apron, so these non-voting Ameri¬ 
cans should be denied a voice in all 
the counsels of men ‘and patriots. 



IMPORTANCE OF A VOTE 


425 


Any person who does not vote, if he 
can vote, is a bad citizen. 

1772. Importance of a Vote. 

In < order that we may not be led to 
underestimate the value of one vote, 
let us recall a case in point, and one 
that actually occurred in the state 
of Indiana between 1840 and 1850. In 
DeKalb County, when the election 
day arrived there was a man who was 
in doubt whether to go to the mill or 
to the polls. Finally, after a certain 
amount >of coaxing, he decided that 
he would exercise his right of fran¬ 
chise and vote. He voted the demo¬ 
cratic ticket, and a Democratic member 
of the Legislature was elected from 
his district by a majority of only 
one vote. That Legislature elected 
a United States Senator, and by 
the vote of the one member from 
that district, Mr. Hannegan was 
chosen. Mr. Hannegan • took his seat 
in the Senate, and was president of 
the Senate pro tern when the vote 
was taken for the annexation of 
Texas. On the floor the vote was a 
tie, and Mr. Hannegan’s casting vote 
decided the question in favor of ennex- 
ation; and this action'brought on the 
Mexican War, which, has so shaped 
the subsequent history of our country. 

1773. A Need. 

“What the Church needs is not more 
culture or more philosophy or more 
theology or higher criticism, but more 
heroic marshaling of her forces, as a 
militant host against the organized 
powers of evil.” 

1774. Seriousness of the Ballot. 

“To the Constables of the Town of 

-Greeting. In the name of the 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts you 
are required to warn and notify the 
inhabitants of the Town of-quali¬ 

fied to vote in elections to meet at 
the polling precincts within said town 
at seven o’clock in the forenoon, then 


and there to bring in to the Wardens 
their ballots for the following officers 
. . . Hereof fail not, and make due 
return of this warrant to the Town 
Clerk with your doing thereon.” 

Thus runs the warrant for election 
day which the selectmen of Massachu¬ 
setts towns must send to the con¬ 
stables to be posted in public places, 
and published in the town newspapers. 

The solemn and somewhat archaic 
wording of the warrant is appropri¬ 
ate to the seriousness of the occasion 
to which it demands attention. 

1775» Just Like a Political Plat¬ 
form. 

There’s always something about the 
afterward of political campaign that 
reminds me of a story “Private” John 
Allen, used to tell, says the “ Wash¬ 
ing Post.” He was travelling through 
Mississippi once upon a time when the 
train was stopped by a washout. He 
went to the door of the car and 
stepped out. The whole country 
seemed to be under water. 

The rain was coming down in 
bucketfuls, and Mr. Allen’s rashness 
in exposing himself to the inclement 
weather distressed the negro porter. 

“Better go inside, Colonel,” he said, 
“’Tain’t safe out here, sah.” 

“Why not?” demanded the famous 
private. “Isn’t this platform made 
to stand on?” 

“No, sah,” said the negro; “no, sah, 
it’s made to get in on, sah.” 

1776. The Church’s Blunder. 

The colossal blunder of the Church 
has been her refusal or her failure 
to make herself adequately felt in 
behalf of political righteousness. 

The wise and reasonable declara¬ 
tion against a union of church and 
state has been seized upon by the wily 
politician, has been perverted and car¬ 
ried to most illogical conclusions, until 
we are openly taught that religion 



426 


YOUR BALLOT 


and politics can have nothing in com¬ 
mon. 

There has been a flood of high re¬ 
solving, but a dearth of high doing. 

What we need is Christianity in 
action, even at the expense of mere 
“resolving.” Why may not the 
preacher rally his voting members to 
stand by the utterances of his own 
church ? Who would have just ground 
for complaint? Let us concede, 
though I know of no sound principle 
upon which such a claim can be based, 
that the preacher should not become 
the advocate of a party, yet surely 
he may and surely he should point 
out and warn against the danger and 
wickedness of complicity with wrong 
by sustaining parties committed to the 
continuance of an iniquitous policy. 

The preacher may safely rebuke sin 
wherever found .—Samuel Dickie. 

1777. The Decalogue Will Have 
Place. 

The following story is given here 
as having relevancy for the present 
condition of affairs in many of our 
cities. A man who wanted to learn 
what profession he would have his 
son enter put him in a room with a 
Bible, an apple, and a dollar bill. If 
he found him when he returned read¬ 
ing the Bible he would make a clergy¬ 
man of him; if eating the apple, a 
farmer; and if interested in the dol¬ 
lar bill, a banker. When he returned 
he found the boy sitting on the Bible 
with the dollar bill in his pocket, and 
the apple almost devoured. He made 
a politician of him. Politicians, we 
may add, are rather apt to “sit” on 
the Bible, holding with a former 
United States Senator that there is no 
place in political life for the Deca¬ 
logue. The subsequent fate and pres¬ 
ent position of that Senator cannot 
be construed as favorable to such ut¬ 
terances. 


1778. Your Ballot. 

Your ballot is a grave responsi¬ 
bility. This is God’s world, and as 
surely as God lives you will be called 
to account for every ballot. Ignor¬ 
ance will not excuse you, it is your 
business to know. 

1779- ScratcKed Her Ballot. 

There was a maid in our town, 

And she was wondrous wise. 

She jumped into a ballot-box 
She scratched, as I surmise. 

And when she saw she changed her 
mind 

And ran with might and main. 

And jumped into the ballot-booth 
And scratched her vote again. 

1780. Vote. 

There are few good Christians who 
refuse to vote because they are op¬ 
posed to voting on principle. We 
are citizens of a heavenly kingdom, 
they say, and have no citizenship on 
the earth. The first part of this state¬ 
ment is true but the second is not. 
As long as we are on the earth we are 
citizens somewhere with duties which 
we ought to discharge. To refuse 
to discharge them is to leave to others 
work in which we ought to share 
and if all Christians did this the de¬ 
termination of our affairs by the state, 
which every year enters more deeply 
into all that we do and have, would 
be left to those who had no Chris¬ 
tian principles. 

1781. Your Ballot. 

We are responsible not only for our 
own ballots, but for all the others 
that we can influence for good. 

The casting of a ballot is only the 
culmination of a long investigation 
and discussion that should precede it. 

The man for whom I vote is to 
represent me, and no one but a Chris¬ 
tian should be allowed to represent a 
Christian. 

This is God’s nation as well as 
ours, and the first thought of a Chris¬ 
tian patriot should be to ask how God 
wants it conducted. 



THE SIN OF NOT VOTING 


42 7 , 


The ballot is our Magna Charta, 
freeing us, if we will use it aright, 
from all tyranny and slavery. 

The ballot is the symbol of citizen¬ 
ship as the flag is the symbol of the 
country; and, like the flag, it is worth 
no more than we make it worth.— 
Dr. A. R. Wells. 

1782. The Sin of Not Voting. 

Next to the sin of voting wrongly 
is the sin of not voting at all. What 
right have the thousands of reputable 
citizens who stay away from “primary 
meetings” and from the polls to com¬ 
plain of mischievous legislation, or 
the election of corrupt officers and 
lawmakers? The neglect of the suf¬ 
frage by those best calculated to ex¬ 
ercise it is one of the gravest of our 
national perils. The more that the 
ignorant and worthless push into poli¬ 
tics, the more have cultured and in¬ 
telligent citizens pushed out; and 
dearly has the commonwealth paid for 
this criminal neglect of the first duty 
of citizenship. Next to Christ comes 
country.— Rev. T. L. Cuyler, D.D. 

1783. Religion and Politics Sepa¬ 

rated. 

One of the most prevalent and seri¬ 
ous dangers is the tendency of so 
many people to divorce their religion 
from their politics. Their moral 
make-up seems to be divided into two 
separate compartments; in one they 
put their religion, in the other they 
put their citizenship. On Sunday 
they worship God in their church; 
during the week they worship a party- 
creed, however bad, and for personal 
or party aggrandizement are not 
ashamed to buy votes, or cheat in a 
caucus. Politics is not to them a mat¬ 
ter of sacred duty; it is a game to 
be played at, and conscience goes un¬ 
der the table. To-day a man is wearing 
a striped jacket in Sing Sing Prison 
who at the time of his conviction for 
outrageous political frauds was a 


prominent member of an evangelical 
church and the superintendent of a 
Sabbath school! In what he con¬ 
sidered his religion he served God; in 
his politics he served the Devil, and 
is paying the bitter penalty. 

1784. Conscience in Politics. 

During the summer of 1848 a great 
convention assembled in Buffalo in be¬ 
half of free soil, free speech and free 
labor. A portion of that convention 
were bolting Democrats, who were op¬ 
posed to the extension of Negro slav¬ 
ery, and who for certain reasons were 
styled “Barnburners.” Another por¬ 
tion was composed of “Conscience 
Whigs,” who had bolted from their 
party also on account of their anti¬ 
slavery convictions. Above the pre¬ 
siding officer’s chair was a huge 
picture of a barn, in flames, and the 
witty motto underneath it was: “For 
conscience’ sake let it burn!” That 
convention was one of the pioneers of 
the moral revolution which, within 
a dozen years, placed Abraham Lin¬ 
coln in the White House, and which 
reduced to ashes the hideous old barn 
of chattel slavery, which was packed 
with combustible cotton up to the 
rafters. There is always room for 
conscience in politics. It is the 
solemn duty of every citizen to carry 
his conscience into his politics. 

1785. Cast Your Vote. 

There are good Christians who do 
not vote because they feel hopeless. 
Some of them think that wrong and 
selfish interests are sure to prevail, 
and others that human improvement is 
to be effected, so far as it can be ef¬ 
fected at all, in other ways than by 
legislation and government. As to the 
first of these grounds of despondency, 
is there not a great deal more to give 
us hope than men had ten years ago? 
The American people are resolved to 
do in their government the things that 
are right and that will serve the whole 



428 


HE SERVES HIS COUNTRY BEST 


people and they are carrying out their 
resolution. That they can’t do every¬ 
thing by legislation is perfectly true. 
The greatest work to be done can¬ 
not be done at the ballot box. But 
whatever can be done there to stop 
evil and to promote righteousness 
should be done. 

1786. The Christian and the Ballot. 

When Pandora opened the forbidden 
box, a swarm of injuries rushed out. 
Thus often is the opening of the ballot- 
box; but a bevy of blessings may 
come from it. 

When we enter a business partner¬ 
ship we become responsible for all the 
acts of our partner, and may be ruined 
by his misdeeds. Thus also, whether 
you will or not, you are in partner¬ 
ship with public officials.— Rev. R. P. 
Anderson. 

1787. The Duty of Voting. 

When can a man do a big job so 
easily as by making a few pencil 
crosses on a ballot? If he neglects this 
glorious privilege, he classes himself 
with those who do not exercise it be¬ 
cause they are forbidden to, the crim¬ 
inals, the idiots, the insane. The 
ignorant, the vicious, and the mere 
partisans will vote; the thoughtful 
intelligent, upright citizens do not vote, 
throw the reins into the hands of their 
opposites. A man who can vote and 
won’t cannot be made to vote, but his 
vote should be taken from him.— Rev. 
Amos R. Wells, D.D. 

1788. He Serves His Country Best. 

He serves his country best 

Who lives pure life, and doeth right¬ 
eous deeds, 

And walks straight paths, however others 
stray; 

And leaves his sons, as uttermost bequest, 
A stainless record which all men may 
read; 

This is the better way. 

No drop but serves the slowly lifting tide; 
No dew but has an errand to some 
flower; 


No smallest star but sheds some helpful 
ray, 

And man by man, each helping all the 
rest. 

Make the firm bulwark of the country’s 
power; 

There is no better way. 

—Susan Coolidge. 

1789. Good Citizenship. 

Good citizenship demands the accep¬ 
tance of the rule of the majority of 
free citizens. If the majority is 
wrong, good citizens will try to show 
this by argument and bring about 
change by lawful means. To do this 
there must be free speech, the right to 
express one’s ideas; but not subver¬ 
sive speech, urging to rebellion. Bol¬ 
shevism’s claim of free speech is false. 
It fails to recognize the freedom of 
others. 

We must make citizenship a hobby, 
We must interest ourselves in every¬ 
thing that concerns the community; 
we must vote intelligently. We get the 
right idea if we study the lives of 
great citizens, such as Washington, 
Lincoln, and Roosevelt. Roosevelt 
was perhaps the ideal citizen, strong, 
upright, faithful to his ideals, ener¬ 
getic in smiting wrong wherever he 
saw it, and eager to correct abuses. 

1790. The New Citizen. 

It is rather amusing to hear men 
who deny that women are competent 
to vote urge women to teach children 
the principles of citizenship. How 
can women do that if they are not 
competent to exercise the rights of 
citizenship ? 

Behold her, the New Citizen. 

She comes, with calm assurance of her 
place, 

To sit at this, the nations council table. 
Who is she? 

This is she who, the long ages through. 
Unfailing, weariless, and unafraid, 

Has shared with man the heat and burden 
of the day. 

Can she be trusted ? 

When to earth God sent his only Son, 

In whose arms was he laid? 

Whose was the breast that nourished 
him? 

—Edith B. Allen. 



BALLOT BOX TEST 


429 


1791. The Campaign. 

Same old issues, same old game; 

Same old charges, same old blame; 

Same appeal to shop and farm. 

Same old viewing with alarm. 

Same old roarbacks roaring back; 

Same spellbinding, too, alack; 

Same old racket, far and wide; 

Same old pointing out with pride 

Same old tariff, same old roar; 

Same old foemen to the fore; 

Same old fussing, same old broil, 

Same old horny handed toil. 

Same old bluffing, same old fears; 

Same old hisses, same old cheers; 

Same old boasting for effect, 

Same old little to expect. 

—Author Unknown. 

1792. Democracy. 

Democracy is in itself no sure cure 
for the ills of a bad government. If 
the liquor interests of America really 
want “the largest personal liberty” 
they can get it any time by emigrat¬ 
ing to—Africa. It was not the ballot 
but “the man behind” the ballot that 
made Massachusetts to differ from 
Haiti. 

It is easier for Americans to brave 
foreign powers than to free themselves 
from their own prejudices. “I was 
born to my politics,” said an intelli¬ 
gent and educated and wealthy citizen 
to the writer in explaining his recent 
vote. He could not defend it even to 
himself upon any other ground. He 
voted against his own interests and 
conviction, secretly hoping he would 
be beaten. 

Slowly but surely the American 
people are getting free from their 
party trammels and schooling them¬ 
selves to cast their ballots according 
to their intelligent and conscientious 
judgments. They are tired of being 
duped and tricked, bought and sold 
by party leaders “whose god is their 
belly.” All anarchy “looks alike” to 
them, whether it be the nullification of 
a federal law by a state in the inter¬ 
ests of slavery or the nullification of 
a state law by a city in the interests 
of rum. 


To bear a part in the sovereignty 
of a great republic, more than 100,- 
000,000 strong, is a dreadful as well as 
glorious privilege. 

1793. Ballot Box Test. 

The test of one’s Christianity is 
at the ballot box. We should know 
that prayer makes politics- We should 
always vote as we pray. The same 
law of God holds good to-day as it 
did in the old dispensation, that prayer 
is one of the forces by means of which 
God sways the world. The time will 
come when wrong of every kind, in 
politics as well as in business and in 
social life, will be put down, because 
God’s people of every age have been 
praying for it and God always an¬ 
swers prayer. It is more certain that 
these prayers will be answered than 
that the sun will rise to-morrow. 

The geatest patriot is not the one 
who goes forth to fight his country’s 
battles, but the one who in times of 
peace fights against moral corruption. 
The Christian patriot is the highest 
type of patriot. He will do better 
service for his country either in times 
of war or peace. A nation’s strength 
is not in its army or navy, not in its 
wealth, but in its Christian patriots. 
Voting is one of the highest acts of 
the Christian citizen; we should give 
it then as much thought as we give 
to our business. We must pray as if 
all depended upon God, then vote as if 
all depended upon our vote. Let man¬ 
hood go into the ballot box with every 
ballot. You are not only responsible 
for your vote, but you are responsible 
for every good vote that you can 
influence. Political parties are as nec¬ 
essary in the government as are the 
armies. It is for us to see that we are 
in the right party. The right party 
is the one that advocates the rights of 
the masses. The government rests 
upon the ballot box. The security of 
its foundation is shaken when evil men 



430 


PREACHING, PRAYING, VOTING 


tamper with the ballot box.— Rev. 
William Barnes Lower. 

1794. Election Day. 

The proudest now is but my peer. 

The highest not more high; 

To-day, of all the weary year, 

A king of men am I. 

To-day, alike are great and small. 

The nameless and the known; 

My palace is the people’s hall. 

The ballot-box my throne 1 

1795 * City Business. 

A city should be conducted just as 
economically and safely as one would 
carry on his home or his own private 
business. It is even more important 
that it should be so carried on, be¬ 
cause the welfare of so many more 
persons is concerned. It is a strange 
thing that a city, in which the life 
and comfort and health and welfare 
of so many men and women and chil¬ 
dren are concerned, should be carried 
on in a way that is for their injury 
and robbery.— Herald and Presbyter. 

1796. Preaching, Praying, Voting. 

“We have preached against the sa¬ 
loon, and we have preached well. We 
have prayed against the saloon, and 
have prayed with fervor. We have 
written against the saloon, and there 
has been logic in our sentiments. We 
have wept in the presence of the 
desolation of the saloon, and our tears 
have been sincere. But the day is 
coming when we will do more—a day 
when our sermons and prayers and 
arguments and agitations, and heart¬ 
aches and tears will crystalize into 
ballots, and when, by the iron hand 
of prohibitive law, this red-lipped 
monster shall be throttled and choked 
and hurled back into the hell from 
which he came !”•— Bishop Joseph F. 
Berry. 

This is a glad day, for Bishop 
Berry’s prophecy has come true. 

1797. Public Office a Public Trust. 

President Cleveland uttered a great 
truth when he said: “A public office 


is a public trust, and a public officer is 
a public servant.” And Jesus said 
“Let him that leads be like him that 
serves.” 

1798. Good Reasons for Voting for 

Temperance. 

During a temperance campaign, a 
lawyer was discussing, with no little 
show of learning, the clauses of the 
proposed temperance law. An old 
farmer, who had been listening atten¬ 
tively, shut his knife with a snap, and 
said: “I don’t know nuthin’ about the 
law, but I’ve got seven good reasons 
for votin’ for it.” “What are they?” 
asked the lawyer. And the grim old 
farmer responded, “Four sons and 
three daughters.”— Presbyterian Re¬ 
view. 

1799. Being a Christian at the 

Ballot-box. 

“Draw me not away with the 
wicked, and with the workers of in¬ 
iquity,” etc. Ps. 28: 3-9. 

Voting is one of the most important 
acts and yet how many do it without 
giving serious thought to the object or 
person for which they cast their vote. 
They do not realize the responsibility 
that rests upon them. They vote for 
this or that because they belong to a 
certain party or because some friend 
goes that way. The measures to be 
voted for or the individuals should 
have most careful consideration, and 
you should gain all the information 
in your power before making a deci¬ 
sion, for voting is never a useless or 
meaningless act. It carries with it 
ireponsibility. It is necessary that 
there shall alway be parties, but be 
sure that you take the side that shall 
tend toward the betterment of the 
nation and humanity. “Liberty’s 
throne is on the ballot-box, and every 
evil vote shakes its foundations.” 

Daniel Webster said: “Neither in¬ 
dividuals or nations can perform their 



PRECEPTS OF PATRIOTISM 


43i 


part well, until they understand and 
feel its importance, and comprehend 
and fully appreciate all the duties be¬ 
longing to it. If we cherish the vir¬ 
tues and principles of our fathers, 
heaven will assist us to carry on the 
work of human liberty and human 
happiness. Let us walk the course of 
life, and at its close, devoutly com¬ 
mend our beloved country, the common 
parent of us all, to the Divine 
Benignity.” Our nation’s strength is 
not in her vast dominions or wealth, 
not in her army and navy, but in the 
God of our fathers. And therefore: 

“Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy 
country’s, 

Thy God’s and Truth’s.” 

1800. Be Good Citizens. 

Let us be good citizens. Let us be 
determined that our country and our 
city life shall be well guarded and 
honestly carried on. Now that women 
are voters, it should be their determin¬ 
ation to help all good men carry on 
public life as purely and as well as a 
good home is carried on. We suffer 
when political matters are neglected. 
We are advantaged when political 
matters are carried on in a pure and 
proper way. We owe it to God, and 
to our families, and to all the people, 
as well as to ourselves, to be good 
and upright and Christian citizens. 
—Herald and Presbyter. 

1801. Private John Allen’s Office. 

“When I first decided to allow the 
people of Tupelo to use my name as 
a candidate for Congress, I went out 
to a neighboring parish to speak,” said 
Private John Allen to some friends 
at the old Metropolitan Hotel in 
Washington recently. 

“An old darky came up to greet me 
after the meeting. ‘Marse Allen,’ he 
said, T’s powerful glad to see you. 
I’s known ob you sense you wuz a 
babby. Knew yoh pappy long befo’ 


you-all wuz bohn too. He used to 
hold de same office you got now. I 
’members how he held dat same office 
fo’ years an’ years.’ 

“ ‘What office do you mean, uncle?’ 

I asked, as I never knew pop held 
any office. 

“ ‘Why de office of candidate, Marse 
John; yoh pappy was candidate fo’ 
many years.’ ” 

1802. Precepts of Patriotism. 

Your work begins in the road in 

front of your home. Seek to help the 
poor on your street before you turn 
to those in India. Help, like charity, 
begins at home, but it does not stay 
there. 

No one can be consecrated to our 
country who is not consecrated to God. 

If you sing “Rally ‘Round the Flag” 
don’t forget to rally ’round the bal¬ 
lot-box. 

Follow the casting of your ballot 
with push, prayer and principle. 

Remember that consecration is the 
balast of the ship of state. 

Constitutions are but institutions on 
paper.— Rev. W. B. Lower, D.D. 

1803. The Christian At the Ballot- 

box. 

The Christian at the ballot-box is 
a soldier of the Cross, on the firing 
line in the army of the Common Good. 
The issue is seemingly simple and 
partisian; the conflict titanic is heav¬ 
en-high and hell-deep; the result gen¬ 
erally is Sedan, Sebastopol, Waterloo, 
and Yorktown all thrown together. 

The Christian’s ballot should be a 
concret prayer for righteousness—the 
evidence and essence of all his pray¬ 
ing. If to pray aright requires “spirit 
and understanding,” so to vote aright 
requires keen interest and searching 
investigation, for back of the ballot- 
box is the primary, and back of that 
is the patriot. The Christian’s ballot 
has increased potential power by par- 



432 


THE CHRISTIAN IN POLITICS 


ticipating in primaries. To neglect 
these duties is doubly to arm the ad¬ 
versary; is high treason against God, 
and traitorous to the country. 

Scan the issue, know the candidate, 
and then in the hour of voting heed 
not the voice of partisan prejudice,— 
the old tempter in modern form,—but 
listen to the “still, small voice” that 
speaks from the Shekinah of reason 
and judgment, and vote for God and 
Home and Country.— Rev. Z. H. Copp. 

1804. Nellie and the Red Bird. 

“Oh, mamma, don’t you know that 
beautiful red bird that used to come 
with his mate last winter to eat the 
wheat you put outside the kitchen 
window for them, and that whistles 
in the big pear tree so sweetly? Well, 
I saw two boys setting a trap to catch 
him, and they said they could sell him 
for a lot of money. I told them that 
was cruel and begged them not to do 
it, but they just laughed and went on 
all the same. Then I prayed that God 
would keep them from setting the 
trap or else that he would keep the 
bird from going into it; and then, 
mamma, to make sure, I went back 
this evening and just kicked the trap 
to pieces. Uncle John saw me doing 
it, and he laughed and said he guessed 
that was what Christian voters would 
have to do on election day to the 
saloon trap. I wonder what he meant.” 

1805. Politics Not Debasing. 

Politics is not something base or 
debasing. It is simply taking care 
of our country and its public institu¬ 
tions. It is base and debasing only 
because a great many base and evil 
men see in the administration of public 
affairs the opportunity to serve them¬ 
selves and their own interests, and to 
do what is dishonset and dishonorable, 
and want to keep good people from 
finding them out and interfering with 
their plans and operations. It is the 


duty of all good people to take an 
earnest interest in public matters, and 
to see that everything in the city life 
and national life is carried on as 
purely as in the home and church. If 
they would do this there would be no 
more talk about politics being impure, 
or about the duty of clean people to 
keep out of unclean political life.— 
Herald and Presbyter. 

1806. Gloomy Suspicion. 

“The train pulled out before you 
had finished your speech.” 

“Yes,” replied Senator Sorghum. 
“As I heard the shouts of the crowd 
fading in the distance I couldn’t be 
sure whether they were applauding me 
or the engineer .”—Washington Star. 

1807. Party Regularity. 

Party “regularity” is responsible 
for most of the present political ir¬ 
regularities which do hurt to the city 
and the state. 

The reformer-for-revenue-only be¬ 
longs, not in the rank of patriots, but 
in the file of branded corruptionists. 
The fundamental treason is to put self 
above the common welfare .—William 
T. Ellis. 

1808. The Corn-fed Candidate. 

Election Candidate. “Now, my 
friends, when you vote you don’t want 
to vote for a pig in a poke; you want 
to vote for me, and get the genuine 
article!” 

1809. The Christian in Politics. 

It is the duty of every Christian to 
be interested in politics. It is a gross 
neglect of duty for anyone to fail to 
do his full share in caring for the 
Government under which he lives. He 
should be sure to vote and to vote for 
good men, and then to make known to 
those who are in office his desires in 
regard to law and its enforcement. 

Our lives are affected, very much 



THANKSGIVING DAY 


433 


more intimately than we sometimes 
think by the kind of government under 
which we live. We have a good 
Government, with a strong constitu¬ 
tion, and good laws, and we have the 
opportunity of voting, year after year, 
on who shall be our officers and what 
shall be our laws. It is our duty to 
see that all this is maintained and 
preserved. If we do not we may lose 
it. It is utterly preposterous and un- 
Christian for any one not to take ad¬ 
vantage of his opportunities, and 
vote and work for the preservation of 
our own excellent Government, and see 
that it is properly administered by 
good officials .—Herald and Presbyter, 


1810. Pride and Patriotism. 

Mr. T. C. Platt, in his address at 
New York on Lincoln’s birthday re¬ 
lated the following. 

“There was a simple minded fellow 
in my town—Charles Lewis—who 
earned his living by blacking boots. 
He had saved his earnings until he 
had $100. I asked him one day what 
he was going to do with it and he said 
he would buy a coffin and a tomb¬ 
stone. Then I asked him what epitaph 
he was going to have. He said: 
‘Charles Lewis. He died a Christian.’ 
He paused for a moment and then 
said: T guess I’ll change that. Make 
it Charles Lewis; he voted for Abra¬ 
ham Lincoln.’” 


XXIX. THANKSGIVING DAY 

(Fourth Thursday in November.) 


1811. Shallow Water Gratitude. 

Too many of us are low-voiced and 
shallow-streamed in our gratitude. 
We are like the boy who had been 
swimming in a tiny pond, and who 
was taken for the first time to the 
ocean. His little bathing-suit was put 
on him, and he was bidden wade in. 

But he looked aghast at the vast 
blue expanse, and shrank back. 

“Why don’t you take a dip?” urged 
his mother. 

“Because,” he said with a great deal 
of dignity, “I don’t think this was 
made for little boys; it was made for 
big ships.” 

We have either got to get into 
deeper water with our expressions of 
gratitude or else admit that we don t 
know how to swim.— H. 

1812. An Improvement. 

That saintly woman, the late 
Francis Ridley Havergal, used to say, 
“Once the will of God was a sigh; 

28 


now it has become a song.” When 
you get to that point, you are in the 
way of blessing. 

1813. To Whom is Praise Due? 

Did you ever know a potter to 
thank a vessel of his own making for 
its beauty and usefulness? Surely 
the praise is due, not to the clay, but 
to the potter. So praise is due to 
God for all the deliverances he has 
wrought for us. 

1814. A Great Giver. 

A king who wished to express his 
affection for a private soldier of his 
army gave him a richly jeweled cup, 
his own cup. The soldier stepping 
forth to receive the gift exclaimed 
shamefacedly, “This is too great a 
gift for me to receive.” “It is not too 
great for me to give,” the king re¬ 
plied. 

God is a great giver. Let us be 
great in giving thanks.— H. 



434 


THANKSGIVING NOTE MISSING 


1815. Stop Whining. 

“He is a clever man and a good 
one, but he minimizes the value of his 
work by his fretful, whining ways.” 

I knew the young man of whom my 
fellow passengers we t re speaking— 
a man as good as gold, but one whose 
rule of faith, while embracing much 
that was good and wise, held not that 
inward peace that “rejoices in the joy 
of the Lord.” 

A gloomy, depressed Christian is a 
positive hurt to the young folk who 
come under his influence. The mind 
that dwells agreeably on the idea that 
“we are prone to trouble as the sparks 
fly upward” is out of date in this age 
of the gospel of cheerfulness. 

Make an effort to stop the fretting 
habit, grapple with it, go to work 
with a will, and in doing so you will 
brighten your own life and the lives 
of those around you.—C. R. Frame. 

1816. Complaint or Gratitude? 

“Well, I have nothing to complain 
of.” Such was the answer we received 
the other day on inquiry of a very 
prosperous friend as to his health 
and how he was getting along. “I 
have nothing to complain of!” And he 
passed on, thinking the better of him¬ 
self because he was not complaining. 
How much better it would have been 
had he said: “I have everything to 
be grateful for. God has been very 
good to me.” 

The habit of thanksgiving is a brave 
and cheerful habit. It has no patience 
with the weak bitterness that com¬ 
plains that life is not worth living. 
It sees God everywhere in this world 
and praises him. It gives thanks in 
all things, knowing that all things 
work together for good to them that 
love God. It does not dwell on per¬ 
sonal disappointments, but enters into 
the larger life of God’s kingdom. It 
is a habit that builds up the character. 
It is a habit that no good Christian 
can afford to be without.— H. 


1817. Remember Your Blessings. 

In a small city of Arizona (Yuma) 
one of the hotels carries a strange 
sign over its veranda: “Free board 
every day the sun doesn’t shine.” The 
new arrival with a light purse 
naturally makes for this stopping- 
place and looks skyward. Sometimes 
it is pouring in torrents and the trav¬ 
eler will then naturally register with 
quite a triumphant air, for he feels 
pretty sure that he is going to get 
something for nothing. But the pro¬ 
prietor does not worry. He has lived 
in this town for many years and he 
does not get excited in the least, for 
always during some part of the day 
the old sun appears, perhaps only for 
a few minutes. No one yet has ever 
been able to get a day’s free board 
at this holstery, at least on account of 
the sun’s not shining. It has become 
too much the custom of our American 
people to think it is raining all the 
time. We forget the blessings we 
have.— H. 

1818. Thanksgiving Note Missing. 

According to an old Jewish legend, 
Lucifer, son of the morning, after he 
had fallen from heaven, was asked 
what he most missed. His reply was, 
“I miss most of all the trumpets that 
are sounded in heaven each morning.” 
Is not this the one great lack in many 
lives to-day? There is neded more 
and more the clear trumpet note of 
joy and thanksgiving. Many persons 
are more ready to sing a dreary 
“Miserere” than a joyous song of 
praise to God. We need less of the 
spirit of sadness and melancholy, and 
more of the abandonment of joy that 
thrilled in the heart of the Psalmist 
when he summoned God’s people to 
“praise him with the sound of the 
trumpet,” to “praise him upon the 
loud cymbals,” to “praise him upon 
the high sounding cymbals.” 

We miss from many lives the sound 
of the morning trumpet. God must 



GOD SENSITIVE TO THANKSGIVING 


435 


miss the hearing from many who 
ought to be glad the sound of the joy- 
trumpet of thanksgiving. At this 
Thanksgiving season let us blow the 
trumpet of thanksgiving—and then let 
us keep on blowing it as an every- 
morning expression of our gratitude. 
— H. 

1819. Cure for Depression. 

A novelist has recalled a medieval 
legend of an angel being sent to Satan 
with the message that God meant 
to take from the devil all the tempta¬ 
tions which he had seduced mankind. 
To this Satan resigned himself, be¬ 
cause he was compelled to. But he 
begged of the angel that he should 
be left with just one—and that the 
least important. “Which?” asked the 
angel. “Depression,” said Satan. The 
angel considered the request, found 
that depression cut but a slight figure 
as a sin, and went back to heaven 
leaving it behind him. “Good!” 
laughed Satan, as the celestial vision 
faded out. “In this one gift I’ve se¬ 
cured all.” Depression is as paralyz¬ 
ing, deadly, and infectious as any 
epidemic. Blessed are the calm spirits 
that go on trusting in God. But even 
those who reason with their own mis¬ 
givings, and sometimes scatter them, 
are on occasion tempted to yield, and 
a flood of melancholy is like a rush 
of water that has burst its bound. 
Over against depression we ought 
steadily to remember the marvelous 
goodness of our God. At this 
Thanksgiving season let us take a new 
start in remembering God’s mercies— 
in remembering His faithfulness, His 
grace, His goodness. That will prove 
a royal cure for depression, a sure 
method of defeating the Evil One. 
—H. 

1820. God Sensitive to Thanksgiv¬ 
ing. 

“God has a good ear for heart 
music.” Jesus was very sensitive to 


this. “Were there not ten cleansed, 
but where are the nine?” Where are 
the multitudes who should be prais¬ 
ing God for his goodness to-day? 
Maybe like the thoughtless lepers, 
lacking reverence for gift and Giver 
alike, they are bringing the plague of 
poverty upon themselves again. There 
is duty and beauty in gratitude. 
“Singing and making melody in your 
heart to the Lord.” He hears it—has 
a good ear for heart music. 

“If Christians praised God more the 
world would doubt him less.” But 
we forget. And that forgetfulness is 
a sin. The Israelites entering Canaan 
were warned: “Beware that thou for¬ 
get not.” They were to remember 
gratefully the God of Might who had 
brought them in, and remembering 
they were to give Him both gratitude 
and obedience. Later the Psalmist 
urged: “Forget not all his benefits.” 
— H. 

1821. Thanksgiving Day Harp- 

strings. 

In one of the legends of the Talmud 
we are told of a stringed instrument 
that hung over David’s bed in such 
position that when the midnight came 
the north wind blew through it; and 
then it sounded sweetly of itself. “And 
he arose at once and occupied himself 
with the law until the pillars of the 
dawn arose.” Thus may God’s good¬ 
ness move upon our hearts. His 
merices are like the sands of the sea¬ 
shore for multitude. Bless the Lord, 
O my soul, and all that is within me 
bless his holy name! At this thanks¬ 
giving season let us think and then 
thank.— H. 

1822. The Atmosphere of Grati¬ 

tude. 

Why do we not trust God more 
fully? He is loving. He is wise. He 
is good. His ways are well for us. 
Why do we not thank him more? 
Stop grumbling, and begin to praise. 



436 


THE THANKSGIVING CURE 


It is said that Beethoven had his 
piano placed in the midle of a field and 
then, “under the smiling sky, with the 
birds singing around him, flowers 
shining and grain glistening in the 
sun, the master musician composed 
some of his great oratorios.” So we 
shall do better work and accomplish 
sublimer ends if we are ever sur¬ 
rounded with the atmosphere of grati¬ 
tude. The hands will have a more 
skilful touch, the eyes a keener sense 
of vision, the tongue a more compell¬ 
ing eloquence; and the soul will feel 
the stirrings of newly unfolding 
power. 

1823. Her Pleasure Book. 

A woman who was noted for her 
sweet and cheerful presence said that 
she kept a “Pleasure Book.” When 
asked about what was in the book she 
showed it, and these were some of the 
entries that were read: “Saw a 
beautiful lily in a window.” “Talked 
to a bright, happy girl.” “Received 
a kind letter from a dear friend.” 
“Enjoyed a beautiful sunset.” “Hus¬ 
band brought some roses home to me.” 
“My boy out to-day for the first time 
after the croup.” If we could bring 
such a spirit as that to bear upon our 
everyday life, how much we should 
find for which to be grateful to God. 

1824. The Thanksgiving Cure. 

Thanksgiving season ought to be a 
great time for curing people of a 
certain disease of which I have read. 
The disease is called “amnesia.” 

This disease is a comparatively rare 
affliction—fortunately so. Its main 
feature is forgetfulness. There are 
cases on record in which men have 
forgotten their own names, the date 
of their birth, their family relations; 
in a word, cases in which memory had 
become a complete blank and the past 
was utterly blotted out. 

Facts were published recently con¬ 
cerning a minister’s son who disap¬ 


peared from an army training camp, 
was hunted for as a deserter, and 
later turned up as an unnamed man 
on one of the transports sent back 
from a military hospital. He had 
found the longing to be at the front 
too strong to resist, had appearently 
re-enlisted under another name, was 
sent to the firing line, was wounded 
in the head and when consciousness 
was restore! had lost all memory of 
the past. His name was found to be an 
assumed one and he was unable to tell 
who he was or where he came from. 
His former life had become a com¬ 
plete blank and, when his parents rec¬ 
ognized him as their long lost son 
he did not give the first sign of rec¬ 
ognition and knew none of his former 
friends or acquaintances. 

Such is amnesia. Physically it is, 
fortunately, a rare disease, but spir¬ 
itually it is not rare. Not in vain 
does the Psalmist call upon his soul, 
“And forget not all His benefits.” 
Kipling has, as the refrain of his im¬ 
mortal “Recessional,” the words, 
“Lest we forget, lest we forget.” 

Ingratitude is nothing but a form of 
spiritual amnesia. It stands for a 
voluntary or involuntary blotting out 
of the memory of the past. The mind 
is no longer sensitive to past benefits 
bestowed. It is as if these things 
had never been. And thus ingratitude 
becomes a spiritual menace. God’s 
own people are very apt to suffer 
from this disease and we forget past 
mercies in the face of present emer¬ 
gencies, as if they had never been. 

1825. Thanksgiving Cures Covet¬ 
ousness. 

Thanksgiving cures covetousness. 
It magnifies our little things till we 
fail to wish for the great things of 
others. It is the quintessence of con¬ 
tentment; and contentment joined to 
pure practical goodness is the acme of 
all life. And just such an acme of 




THE MUSIC OF THANKSGIVING 


437 


life is within the reach of every lowly 
heart that will trust God fully. 

The late Dr. John Hall, of blessed 
memory, used to say that he liked to 
look into the windows of the stores 
at Christmas time, to see how many 
things he could do without! A man 
has gotten a long way toward real 
wealth when he can do that. He has 
godliness with contentment which is 
great gain—the truest riches. 

To continually think of one’s sor¬ 
rows and to mourn over disappoint¬ 
ments is to adopt a weakening policy. 
To call a roll of blessings is to look 
unto God and thereby gain strength. 

At this Thanksgiving season let us 
take a new start in the practice of 
continual thanksgiving. Let us make 
our Thanksgiving song the new song 
of our life, the habit of our days.— 
H. 

1826. Thanksgiving and Good 

Work. 

It is said that Leonardo da Vinci 
held a lyre in his hands while he 
painted. This was one of the secrets 
of his superb work as an artist— 
his heart was joyful. No one can 
do his best work with a sad heart. 
It would be well if all of us should 
learn to hold a lyre in one hand as 
we work with the other, whatever 
our duty or our task may be. “The 
joy of the Lord is your strength,” 
said Nehemiah to his people when he 
exhorted them to a better and more 
noble life. Get the thanksgiving habit. 
You will be happier and you will do 
better work too.— H. 

1827. The Music of Thanksgiving. 

It was our privilege lately to see 
a fine reproduction of the painting en¬ 
titled “Hope” by the late G. F. 
Watts, R. A. The original is one of 
the treasures of the Tate Gallery, in 
London. This exquisite subject is 
one of the conceptions that helped to 
rank Mr. Watts with the greatest 


artists of all time. A slender, gentle, 
tender personification of Hope, seated 
on a globe typifying the earth, is 
shown consoling herself by the faint 
sounds she is still able to draw from 
the one remaining string of her bro¬ 
ken harp, once full of harmonies she 
enjoyed, but still yielding consolation 
and hope for the future. Suppose 
that things have not gone as well with 
you as you might desire, you will do 
well, and magnify God’s grace too, 
in drawing the sweetest possible music 
from the strings that remain on your 
harp. Thanksgiving Day harpstrings 
let them be; but see that you draw 
music from them to cheer every day 
of your life.— H. 

1828. Count Your Blessings. 

We have read of a father who one 
winter’s night was walking along, 
hurrying toward home, with his little 
daughter at his side. Suddenly she 
said to him, “Father, I am going to 
count the stars.” “Very well,” said 
he, “go on.” By and by he heard her 
counting—“Two hundred and twenty- 
three, two hundred and twenty-four, 
two hundred and twenty-five. O, 
dear,” she said, “I had no idea there 
were so many.” 

Ah, fellow Christian, have you never 
said in your soul, “Now, Master, I 
am going to count Thy benefits,” and 
soon found your heart sighing, not 
with sorrow, but burdened with good¬ 
ness, and you saying to yourself, “I 
had no idea that there were so many?” 

“Count the mercies! Count the mercies! 
Number all the gifts of love; 

Keep the daily, faithful record 
Of the comforts from above. 

Look at all the lovely green spots 
In life’s weary desert way; 

Think how many cooling fountains 
Cheer our fainting hearts each day, 
Count the mercies! Count the mercies! 

See them strewn along our way!” 


1829. Fishermen’s Thanksgiving. 

A service of thanks for the harvest 
of the sea is the custom each year of 



438 SINGING OR GRUMBLING THANKSGIVING 


a church on the English coast. A 
choir of fishermen conduct the sing¬ 
ing, while the church is decorated with 
various articles connected with the 
fishing industry. Fishing-nets are 
hung around the gallery, while near 
the pulpit there are placed starboard 
and port lights, life-buoys, compass, 
chart, and other things. Why not 
render thanks for the harvest of the 
sea as well as for the harvest of 
the soil, especially if one lives on the 
coast ?— H. 

1830. Echoing Praise. 

A beautiful custom of the herds¬ 
men in the Alps has been related. 
These men use a horn to call their 
cattle; but the horn is also used 
for another purpose, solemn and re¬ 
ligious. The instant the sun disap¬ 
pears, and while its last rays are still 
glimmering on the summits of the 
mountains, the herdsman who dwells y 
highest up the mountains takes his 
horn and trumpets forth, “Praise 
God the Lord.” Immediately all the 
herdsmen in the neighborhood take 
their horns and repeat the words, 
“Praise God the Lord!” “This con¬ 
tinues for some minutes while on all 
sides the mountains echo the praises 
of God. A solemn stillness follows, 
and every one offers his silent prayer 
on bended knee. By this time it is 
dark, and then the herdsman on the 
loftiest height peals forth in his own 
musical French, ‘Good night’ and ‘good 
night’ is repeated on all the moun¬ 
tains, from the horns of the herdsmen 
and the clefts of the rocks.”— H. 

1831. Yet I Will Rejoice. 

The story is told of a good Pres¬ 
byterian minister in Scotland, but of 
a rather conservative type, who had 
in his congregation a poor old woman 
who was in the habit of saying “Praise 
the Lord,” “Amen,” when anything 
particularly helpful was said. This 
practise greatly disturbed the minis¬ 


ter, and on New Year’s Day he went 
to see her. “Betty,” he said, “I’ll 
make a bargain with you. You call 
out ‘Praise the Lord’ just when I get 
to the best part of my sermon, and 
it upsets my thoughts. Now if you 
will stop doing it all this year, I’ll 
give you a pair of wool bankets.” 
Betty was poor, and the offer of the 
bankets looked very good. So she 
did her best to earn them. Sun¬ 
day after Sunday she kept quiet. 
But one day a minister of another 
type came to preach—a man bubbling 
over with joy. As he preached on 
the forgiveness of sin and all the 
blessings that follow, the vision of 
the blankets began to fade and fade 
and the joys of salvation grew brighter 
and brighter. At last Betty could 
stand it no longer, and jumping up 
she cried, “Blankets or no blankets, 
Hallelujah!” 

1832. God My Conductor. 

The other day when I got into a 
tramcar I noticed a little girl in the 
car, all alone, but radiantly happy, 
humming a little tune to herself, a 
picture of joy. I leaned forward and 
said, “Why, my little girl, aren’t you 
afraid of riding all alone in this car?” 
Her eyes went wide at my folly, 
her lips bubbled with laughter. “Oh,” 
she said, “they can’t hurt me on this 
tram; my father’s the conductor.” 
We are thundering through the uni¬ 
verse at inconceivable speed, swept 
through joy and grief, sickness and 
health, death and life, while all the 
time our heavenly Father is the con¬ 
ductor—only we don’t trust and sing 
in that way. If we trusted God more 
there would be more songs of praise 
upon our lips .—Golden Hours. 

1833. Singing or Grumbling 

Thanksgiving. 

We sometimes sing a hymn with 
this refrain: 



HABIT OF THANKSGIVING 


439 


“Singing I go along life’s road; 

Praising the I*ord, praising the I*ord.” 

When the truth is— 

Grumbling I go along life’s road 
Scolding the folks, blaming the cook, etc. 

It is astonishing how many the 
grumblers are. Yet grumbling is bad 
business. It is one of the greatest 
perils of our time that the prevailing 
type of Christian life shall get to be 
like that mood in which John Foster 
said most evangelical divines a hun¬ 
dred years ago ended their days, “a 
mood of gently complaining melan¬ 
choly.”—if. 

1834. Habit of Thanksgiving. 

There is a beautiful legend of a 
golden organ in an ancient monastery. 
Once the monastery was beseiged 
by robbers, who desired to carry off 
its treasures. The monks took the 
organ to a river which flowed close 
by and sank it in the deep water 
in order to keep it from the hands of 
the robbers. And the legend is that, 
though buried thus in the river, the 
organ still continued to give forth 
sweet and enchanting music, which 
was heard by those who came near. 

Every Christian life should be like 
this golden organ. Nothing should 
ever silence its music. Even when 
the floods of sorrow flow over it, it 
should still continue to rejoice and 
sing. 

One of the secrets of such a life is 
found in the cultivation of the habit 
of thankfulness. 

The true spirit of thanksgiving can¬ 
not be saved up for Thanksgiving 
Day. A grateful heart must be born 
and bred in us—born out of love to 
and confidence in God, bred in sun¬ 
shine and shadows, prosperity and 
adversity. Like a certain kind of 
primrose it must bloom all the year 
round. There is really nothing that 
God does for us every day of our life 
but is wonderful, and the more we 
know him the more wonderful does it 


seem to us that he should do any¬ 
thing for us. We take so many things 
as matters of course without look¬ 
ing up from whence they come, when 
if we did but look up, gratitude would 
fill our hearts to overflowing.— H. 

1835. Can I Force Thanksgiving? 

“Can I force thanksgiving?” you 
ask. “Can I shut my eyes to my 
sorrows? Can I forget the injustice 
in the world, the heavy burdens placed 
upon the weak, the tears, the heart¬ 
aches, the bitter cries of the poor 
and oppressed?” 

No, you cannot force thanksgiving. 
You can pretend it, but that will not 
fool God or yourself. 

But you can create thanksgiving. 
Do your best to make the world better 
and happier and your heart will sing 
for joy; you cannot help it. In that 
hour you will begin to see God for 
the first time, and you will realize 
that he also is doing just what you 
have been doing—his best for the 
world .—Amos R. Wells, Ph.D. 

1836. Gifts the Sign of the Giver. 

If we are thankful for harvests 
and undiminished material resources, 
and prospect of peace and plenty for 
long time to come, let us not forget 
that these things are the proofs of 
the providential care of our gracious 
God, and let us be thankful that this 
God is our God. Abundant harvest 
does not mean rich soil and fertile 
seed alone. It means that unseen 
God. 

“Back of the loaf is the snowy flour, 

And back of the flour the mill, 

And back of the mill are the wheat and 
the shower, 

And the sun, and the Father’s will.” 

The visible is the suggestion of the 
invisible, the gift the sign of the 
Giver .—The Presbyterian. 

1837. National Righteousness. 

Two friends, driving along a 
country road on Sunday in the far 



440 


GRATITUDE AS AN ASSET 


South, met a negro carrying a fat 
’possum. They remonstrated with 
him that it was the Sabbath. He re¬ 
plied that “a religion that could not 
bend enough to permit a negro to 
kill a fat ’possum on a Sabbath day 
couldn’t be ’stablished roun’ here no¬ 
way.” But the type of religion that 
wins respect does not bend. Those 
who do their best work will bend 
their knees oft; their religion never. 
“Righteousness exalteth & nation.” 
There is nothing wobbly about right¬ 
eousness. Let us promote firm, 
straight, unbending religion—unbend¬ 
ing righteousness—in the nation, 
consecrating ourselves afresh at this 
Thanksgiving season.— H. 

1838. Thank First. 

“When thou hast truly thanked thy God 
For every blessing sent; 

But little time will then remain 
For murmur or lament.” 

1839. A Course of Treatment in 

Thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving, like other great 
powers in us, is not an occasional 
exuberance, but is a power to be 
gained by thoughtful attention and 
practice. If a hundred more good 
things were added to us, they, of 
themselves, could not make us thank¬ 
ful unless we worked directly for that 
spirit. Nothing that can happen from 
the outside can ever change this for 
us. Something 'must happen from 
within. And, knowing in himself the 
growth of a thankless spirit, the 
Psalmist took himself in hand and 
said, “I will be glad and rejoice in 
thee,” just as he would have said, “I 
will” do anything else. Let any one 
try this for six months, and make 
it his discipline, and he will see a 
difference in his whole life .—Sunday 
School Times. 

1840. Singing a Bit. 

A writer tells of a boy who was 
sunny and brave. He met the ills of 


life, which too many people regard 
as almost tragedies, with courage. 
But one day something serious hap¬ 
pened. He and a playmate climbed 
a tree. Just when our little philo¬ 
sopher reached the top, his foot 
slipped and he fell to the ground. He 
lay there, but uttered no cry. It was 
his playmate that screamed. The doc¬ 
tor found the leg badly broken. The 
boy bore the setting patiently, with¬ 
out a whimper. The mother slipped 
out of the room to hide her own 
tears,—she couldn’t stand it as well as 
her boy did. Outside she heard a 
faint sound and hurried back, almost 
hoping to find him crying. 

“My boy!”'she said, “do you want 
something? I thought I heard you 
call.” 

“Oh, no, mother,” he said, “I didn’t 
call. I just though I’d try singing 
a bit.” And he went on with the 
song. 

When you have pain, or struggle, 
or a heavy load, or a great anguish, 
don’t complain, don’t cry out, don’t 
sink down in despair, don’t be afraid, 
—try singing a bit. Trust God and 
praise. At this Thanksgiving Sea¬ 
son encourage people to try singing a 
bit.— H. 

1841. Gratitude as an Asset. 

Men reckon up their goods—so 
much in bonds, so much in stocks, so 
much in notes, so much in personal 
property, so much in real estate. Do 
they ever in taking account of their 
possessions, reckon in a thankful 
heart? Probably not. And yet there 
is no greater wealth in itself, and no 
greater producing agent of wealth 
than the faculty of gratitude. 

Contentment is a perpetual feast. 
The richest man in the world can 
have no more than enough for his 
wants. If you have the same, you are 
as rich as he. 



INDEX 


(A very large part of every man’s reading falls overboard; and, unless 
he has good indexes, he will never find it again. — Horace Binney.) 


Reference is a-lways made to the illustrations by number. A dash between 
two numbers indicates that all between them are referred to. 


Advent, 1-135. See Christmas, 1-135. 
Age, 1529-1552. 

Aim, Young People’s, 356, 383, 395. 

Air, God of Open, 1047. 

Alcohol, 1688, 1689, 1730. 1680-1762. 

American, A Good, 1458. Initiative, 
1493. New, 1467. 

Atbor Day, 1031-1102V See Trees, 
1031-1102. 

Army, the Church, 280. 

Art, 58. 

Ascended Christ, 1103-1130. Admin¬ 
istering, 1116. As He Said, 1104. 
Comfort In, mi. Conqueror, 1105. 
Effect of, 1114, 1126. Encourage¬ 
ment of, 1106. Fable of, 1113. 
Gazing After, 1120. Gift of Peace, 

1117. Gives Hope, mo. Inter¬ 
cedes, 1103, 1122. King of Glory, 

1118. Kingship of, 1108. Last 
Words of, 1125. Parting, 1127. 
Preparing a Place, 1112. Reigning, 
1109. Taken Up, 1115. Will Re¬ 
turn, 1124. With Us, 1107. See 
Ascension Day, 1103-1130. 

Ascension Day, 1103-1130. 

Ascension, Effect of, 1114, 1126, 1127. 
Fable of, 1113.' 

Ass, Riding on, 733, 746, 77 3, 779 , 7 80. 

See Palm Sunday, 700-780. 
Atonement, Difficulty in Defining, 837. 
Atonement (With Good Friday), 791, 
799, 804, 808, 830, 831, 832, 833. 
Aviation, 185, 1748. 

Ballot, Christian 1786, 1799, 1803, 1804. 
Sacredness of, 1763-1810. Serious¬ 
ness of, 1774. Test of, 1793* 
Women’s, 1769, 1776, 1790. Your, 
1778, 1781. See Election Day, 

1763-1810. 

Best, Doing, 252. 

Bible, His Mother’s Version, 1252. 
Birthday, Everybody’s, 214. 

Blessings, Remembered, 1817. Counted, 
1828. See Thanksgiving Day, 1811- 
1841. 


Blood, Bought With, 1841. Life By, 
879. The Saving, 838. See Atone¬ 
ment, 781-744. 

Booth, William, 357. 

Boy, 99- Against Drink, 1696. And 
Saloon, 1692 

Boys, Care for, 1287. Word to, 1367, 

_ 1393 , 1396. 

Boys and Girls (With Palm Sunday), 

_ 757 . 

Booze, 1680-1762. 1750, 1751. 

Broken Things, 899. 

Called, of God, 373. 

Candidate, Corn-Fed, 1808, 1763-1810. 

Capital, and Labor, 1614, 1625. And 
Church, 1625, 1631. See Labor Day, 
1603-1645. 

Character, Building, 148. Making, 172. 

Charity, 64. 

Child, Church Members, 655. Grateful, 
1328. Valuation of, 105. View of 
Prayer, 1329. 

Child Labor, 1621, 1623. See Labor 
Day, 1603-1645. 

Childhood, Adrift, 1332. 

Children, 1327-1412. Care for, 1327. 
Gently Called, 637. Dr. Jowett and, 
1359. Lessons for, 1353, 1365, 1366, 
1370, 1382, 1387, 1389, 1390, 1399, 
1400, 1409, 1411, 1412. Ministry of, 
651. Saving, 657, 684, 698. Sayings 
of, 1330, I 33 U 1333 , 1335 , 1345 , 1349 , 
1358 , 1363, 1369, 1373 , 1375 - 1381 , 
1383, 1385, 1394 , 1397 , 1399 , 1406, 
1407. Story for, 1336. 1341, 1343, 
1344, 1346, 1347, 1348, 1355, 1360, 
1362, 1368, 1384, 1391, 1392, 1398, 
401, 408. Win Early, 649. See 
Children’s Day, 1327-1412. 

Children’s Day, 1327-1412. Poetry, 
1 337 , 1338 , 1339 , 1354 , 1364, 1395 ’, 
1410. Sermons, 1340, 1350, 1351, 
1352, 1403, 1404, 1405. 

Christ, Attraction of, 112. Best Gift, 
30. Birth of, 1-135. Body Broken, 
886. Copying, 24. Crucifixion of, 


441 





442 


INDEX 


781-844. Death and Life of, 884. 
First-Fruits, 1020. Forgiving Love 
of, 915. Friend, 132. Invited, 964. 
As King, 90, 702-706, 710. And 
Labor, 1639. Light, 125, 133. Liv¬ 
ing One, 990, 1019. Loved, 907. 
Love of, 648, 664. Made Welcome, 

911. Master of Grave, 996. Need 
of, 916. Not Exclusive, 43. Offered, 
5. Pattern, 77. Peace-Bringer, 28, 
39. Planted Seed, 1021. Praising, 
768. Present as Saviour, 842. Re¬ 
flectors of, 9. Rejected, 739. Re¬ 
stored, 54. Risen, 917-1030. Royal 
Descent, 71. Scourged, 885'. Seeing 
Him Again, 889. Seeking, 121. 
Shepherd, 56. Standard, 12. Took 
the Cup, 890. Transforms, 31, 125. 
Trusting, 673. Unrecognized, 107. 
Universal, 75. Vision of, 14. Visit, 
42. The Way, 665, 666. Welcomed, 
113, 777 , 77 8. 

Christ, Ascension of, 1103-1130. 

Christ As King (With Palm Sunday), 
724, 734, 741, 752, 754, 760, 765, 
766, 778, 779. 

Christ (With Good Friday), Finished 
Work, 785. Heart of, 803, 833. 
Love, 812. Magnified, 807. Pardon 
Through, 802. Praise, 807. Rock, 814. 
Scourged, 806. Substitute, 810. 
Undervalued, 828. Victory of, 809. 
Wounds of, 782. 

Christ (With Lord’s Supper), Accepted, 
845. His Blood, 848. Bread, 872. 
Union With, 850. 

Christ’s Ascension, 1103-1130. Tri¬ 
umphal Procession, 700, 707, 708, 
709, 711, 712, 714. Coming, 718. 
Christianity, Not Failure, 291. 
Christmas, 1-135. Blessings of, 48. 
Continual, 57, 70. Democracy of, 
118. Gifts, 114. Holly, 68. Ideals, 
124. In Trenches, 86. Influence of, 
128. Jollity, 1x7. Legends, 68, 69, 
78, 82. Legacy, 50. Love, 103. 
Lullaby, 111. Messenger, 123. Pro¬ 
vision, 89. Revelation, no. Rose, 
44. Spirit of, 80. Vision, 122. 
Worship, 134. 

Church, A Baptized, 1147. A Live, 

350 . 

Citizen. The New, 1790. Good, 1800. 
Citizenship, Good, 1763-1810, 1789. 
College, Associations, 1438. Friends, 
1431 - 

Comfort, In the Cross, 813. 
Commencement Day, 1413-1451. Mot¬ 
toes, 1429. Poetry of, 1420, 1422. 
Thought, 1450. 

Communion, 845-916. Any Omitted? 
891. Continual, 902. Covenant, 897. 
Closed-Door, 903. Camp, 883, 896, 

912. Formal, 892. Joy, 887. Keep 
Coming, 901. Rekindles Love, 888. 


Remembrance, 900. Soldiers, 883, 
894, 895, 896, 912. Soldiers in 
France, 883, 894, 895, 912. Sunday, 
845-916. United In, 893. Value of, 
906, 909, 914. See Lord’s Supper, 
845-916. 

Complaint or Gratitude? 1816. 

Concord Bridge, 1295'. 

Confessing Christ, 632-634, 666, 667, 
681, 686, 690. 

Conquering to Save, 843. 

Consecration, 62, 86, 357, 371, 377, 629. 

Conversion, Age of, 646, 647. Right 
About Face 661. Without Strug¬ 
gle, 650. 

Covenant, The, 877. 

Creed, 181. Of Christendom, 1189. 

Cross (With Good Friday), Central, 
822. Devotion to, 824. Impulse 
of, 823. Message of, 819, 835. And 
Missions, 817. Saving, 818. Shadow 
of, 796. Theology of, 816. Under 
the, 827. Victory of, 787. Way of, 
784. See Good Friday, 781-844. 

Crown of Thorns, 821. Living, 919. 

Crucifixion of Christ, 781-844. 

Custom, A Comely, 1256. Of Ages, 
1290. 

Day Before, The, 479. 

Days, Make Years, 220. Numbering, 
238. 

Death, 814. Abolished, 922. Beyond, 
1002. Bridge Over, 973. Christian 
View of, 956. Christian’s, 662. 
Colonization, 949. Emmigration, 
975. Gate of Life, 1018. Is it Good¬ 
bye? 1012. Is No, 936. A Journey, 
982. A Sleep, 997, 1001. A Tunnel, 
925, 999- Viewed, 998. A Way 
Across, 933. See Easter, 917-1030. 

Deceiving God, 342. 

Decision, Delayed, 644, 671, 692. 

Immediate, 626, 628, 636, 639, 640, 
649, 660, 663, 670, 677-680, 685, 687, 
689, 694-697, 699. Instant, 355. See 
Decision Day, 626-699. 

Decision Day, 626-699. Hints, 672, 
674, 693. Results, 656. 

Decoration Day, 1256-1326. See Me¬ 
morial Day, 1256-1326. 

Democracy, 1792. 

Depression, Cure For, 1819. Derailing 
Devices, 1647. 

Disease, and Cure, 287. 

Drifting, 162. 

Drink, 1680-1762. Cancer of, 1716. 
Control of, 1726. Curse of, 1735. 
Danger from, 1713, 1739, 1746, 1759. 
A Deceiver, 1683. Depraves, 1746, 
1759. Destructive, 1684, 1687, 1688, 
1697, 1702, 1718. Disfigures, 1710. 
Fire of, 1686, 1703. Habit Opposed, 
1740. Influence of, 1721. Injury of, 
1719, 1724, 1728, 1729. And Politics, 



INDEX 


443 


1711. And Poverty, 1682, 1728, 1729, 
1744, 1745. A Sjerpent, 1698. Temp¬ 
tation to, 1722. Tragedy of, 1756. 
Undertaker’s Help, 1755. See Tem¬ 
perance Sunday, 1680-1762. 

Droop, Sacred Head, 825. 

Duty, 63, 104. 

Easter, 917-1030. At Eagle Rock, 1016. 
Banishing Fear, 931. Christ Lives, 
1013. Duty, 923. Endless Life, 
1009. Epitaph, 945. Everlasting 
Flower, 1010. Evidences, 979-987. 
Fact, 995. Faith, 986. Festival, 
994. Flowers, 965. Gives Far Vis¬ 
ion 1014. Grave, 1028. He Goeth 
Before, 1007. If a Man Die, 1005. 
Incentive, 950. Inside, 1023. Jesus 
Pattern, 959. Knowledge, 9 72. 
Legend, 959. Life and Freedom, 
939. Morning, 1017. Nest Beyond, 
1022. Ouij aboard, 960. Pledge, 
959. Showed Himself, 976. Spirit 
of, 983. Victory, 953. We Have a 
King, 1006. See Resurrection, 917- 
1030. 

Educated Man, the, 1439a. 

Education, 478-543. Aim of, 518, 520. 
Association, 1438. And Bible, 1433. 
Children’s, 521. Christian, 1414. 
Coaling for Voyage, 1424. College, 
1417, 1428. Cost of, 488. Debt of, 
1442. Defence, 1430. Defined, 

1438. Democracy in, 1438a. End 

of, 1443. And Experience, 1430, 
1446. And Facts, 1423. Finished, 
489. Fool-Killer, 1426. Fountain, 
1434. Getting Good Ready, 1413- 

Good Investment, 1437. Growing, 
1432. Heart, 1416. High, 495. 

Individual, 522. Making Men, 1421. 
Medical, 1449. And Missions, 1441. 
Morality Central, 478. Preparation, 
484. And Religion, 494, 496, 497, 
499 - 502 , 505, 507, 510, 511, 513, 515 - 
5 i 7 , 519 , 524, 526, 534, 538 - 540 , 542 , 

1439. Scope of, 4)98. A Great 

Teacher, 1436. True, 486, 512, 514, 
523, 525, 533 , 535 , 536, 54 i, 543 - 
Vacation, 487. Value of, 494, 496, 
503, 527, 528, 531, 532 , 537 - Van¬ 
tage of, 1419. Widening, 499. Will 
It Pay? 1415'. Wrong, 1425. See 
Commencement Day, 1413-1451. 

Education Day, 478-543. 

Educational, 1413-1451. 

Educators, Shaping Destiny, 1437a. 
Teaching, 1451. 

Election, Eve of, 1766. City, 1795- 
Speaking, 1806. 

Election Day, 1763-1810. Poetry, 1766, 
1768, 1779, 1788, 1790, 1791, 1794- 
Emancipation Proclamation (What 
Became Of It?), 419. 

Enlisting for Christ, 622. 


Enthusiasm (Palm Sunday), 719-721, 

_ 728, 731, 774. 

Entry Into Jerusalem, 707. 

Epiphanies, Two, 744. 

Epiphany, 273-354. See Missions, 273- 
354 - 

Eternal Life, 917-1030. 

Eternity, Plan for, 942. 

Eucharist, The, 880, 845-916. See 
Communion Sunday, 845. 

Experience, 1435. Lamp of, 198. 

Failures, 263. 

Faith, Active, 675’. 

Family Life, 201. 

Fields, God In, 1094. Out In, 1058. 
See Arbor Day, 1031-1102. 

Flag, Dear Old, 1478. A Great, 1526. 
The, 1475. Tribute to, 1509. 

Flanders Fields, In, 1308. 

Flower Sunday, 1327-1412, 1388. 

Flowers, Bloom of, 1101. Corn, 1070. 
Dandelion, 1066. Explosion of, 
1041. Garden, 1063. Legend of, 
1055, 1388. Maize Legend, 1070. 
Memorial Day, 1307. Mignonette, 

1060. Need Sun, 1053. On Graves, 
1256. On Waters, 1257. Sweet, 
1067. See Memorial Day. 1256- 
1326. 

Forestry, 1031-1102. 

Forests, 1031-1102. And River Flow, 
1091. Destruction of, 1095. Na¬ 
tional, 1085. Preservation of, 1074. 
Squandering, 1088. See Arbor Day, 
1031-1102. 

Fourth of July, 1452-1528. All, 1527. 
Events, 1508. In American Wars, 
1474. New Meaning, 1452. Col. 
Roosevelt, 1520. 

Friend, Influence of, 197. Make A, 
250. 

Garden, My, 1063. 

Garments, Strewn in Path, 709, 714, 
729, 736, 738, 742, 743 , 763, 769. 

Gazing Into Heaven, 1121. See As¬ 
cension Day, 1103. 

Gift, The Greatest, 96. The Trans¬ 
forming, 91. 

Gifts, Origin of, 60. 

Giving (With Missions), 33, 84, 106, 
127, 309, 312, 314-316, 324-326, 329, 
334. Motives to, 309, 334. Offering 
Versus Collection, 327. By Proxy, 
311. Stingy, 275, 305. 

Gladstone, Tribute to Washington, 581. 

God, An Artist, 184. Defied, 55. Fa¬ 
therhood of, 52. Or Gold, 1506, 
1517. A Great Giver, 1814, 1836. 
Hand in History, 1268, 1465, 1477, 
1480. Love of, 83, 1177, 1186. Mis¬ 
understood, 635. Near, 49. Omni¬ 
potent, 1175, 1182. Omnipresent, 
1176, 1183, 1187. Promises of, 72. 
Pressing Toward, 264. Reality of, 



444 


INDEX 


1185. Response to, 668. Sensitive 
to Thanksgiving, 1820. Triune, 1158, 
1167, 1173, 1179. In Victory, 1502. 
Visiting Men, 17. Walking With, 
203. With Us, 248, 253. 

Good Citizenship, 1763-1810, 1789. 

See Election Day, 1763-1810. 

Good Friday, 781-844. 

Good Man’s House, 882. 

Gospel (With Missions), Inconvenient, 
349. Needed, 306. Preached, 274, 
279. Preaching, 273-354, 298, 321, 
347. Story of Love, 781, 789. Tell, 
328. 

Grace, Fulness of, 8. 

Graduate, Useless, 1445. 

Gratitude, 1811-1841. An Asset, 1841. 

Atmosphere of, 1822. Shallow, 1811. 
Grave, Digging His, 1681. Fresh, 1274. 
Greeks, Seeking Christ, 745, 747 , 749 , 
767 - 

Growth, 196. 

Guide, 258. 

Habit, Of Drink, 1680-1762. 

Handicap, 1654. 

Heart, Christmas In, 6, 40, 53, 67, 108, 
180. 

Heathen, Care for, 354. Deceit of, 
342. Dying, 278. Home, 284. 
Idolatry of, 352. Indians Converted, 
283. Transformed, 301. See Mis¬ 
sions, 273-354. 

Heaven, 150. On Credit, 1027. Fore¬ 
gleams of, 1551. Home, 1535. Rest, 
1549. Rights In, 1552. Youth of, 
1547 - 

Hell, Road to, 160. 

Helpfulness, 254. 

Heroism, 1494, 1505, 1516. Call for, 
1298. 

Hesitation, Weakness, 389. 
Hindrances, Help of, 385, 386. 
Holiday Mania, 1599. 

Holy Communion, 845-916. Attitude 
Toward, 874. God Speaks In, 856. 
Joyful, 872. See Communion Sun¬ 
day, 845-916. 

Holy Spirit, A Lens, 1143. As Light, 
1140. Barrage of Fire, 1146. Com¬ 
ing of, 1139. Comforter, 1145. 
Convicts, 1152. Descent of, 1131- 
1156. Dove, 1136, 1149. Funda¬ 
mental, 1142. Gives Boldness, 1138. 
Grieve Not, 1136. How He Comes, 

1132. Men Imperfect Conduits of, 
1135. Neglected, 1141. Parable of, 
1150. Poured Out, 1144. Power of, 

1133. Quiet Work, 1153. Reveals 
Self, 1148. Unused Power of, 1134. 
Warning Bell, 1155. See Whitsun¬ 
day, 1131-1156. 

Hope, Ever Brightening, mo. 

Hopeful Cases, 688. 


Hosanna Spirit, the, 721, 775. 

Hurry, 194. 

Ideal, 226, 234. Realizing, 1695. 
Ignorance, Sin of, 1386. 

Immortality, 917-1030. Relief In, 992. 
Certainty of, 1015. Inscription On 
Tomb, 1030. Possibility of, 920. 
Proof of, 970. See Easter, 917- 
1030. 

Impossible, Nothing Is, 1653. 
Improvement, Aim At, 236. 

Impurity, Is Weakness, 1192. 
Incarnation, 1-135. 

Independence Day, 1452-1528. New 
Declaration of, 1511. New Mean¬ 
ing of, 1452. See Fourth of July, 
1452-1528. 

Indians, New Names for, 223. 
Influence, 175. Given to Christ, 641. 
Inheritance Undelivered, 297. 
Intemperance, 1680-1762. And Pov¬ 
erty, 1682. Anger With, 1701. Bad 
Business, 1685. Bad Example of, 
1734. Dealt With Lightly, 1700. 
Destroys, 1684, 1693. Experience 
of, 1708. Fight It, 1707. Hurts the 
Innocent, 1699, 1733. Lauder’s Tes¬ 
timony, 1714. Overcome, 1731. 
Temptation of, 1690. See Temper¬ 
ance Sunday, 1680-1762. 
Investment, A Safe, 928. 

Invitation to Christ, 627, 630, 637, 683. 

January, 136. See New Year, 136-272. 
Jesus, Tears of, 750. 

Justice, Social, 1637. 

Justification, 781-844. 

Kindness, 18, 66. 

labor, 1603-1645'. And Church, 1636. 
Basis of Power, 1635. Dignity of, 
1644. Faithful, 1638. See Labor 
Day, 1603-1645. 

Labor and Liquor, 1705. 

Labor Day, 1603-1645. A Memorial, 

1642. Poetry for, 1617, 1628, 1641, 

1643. 

Lamb, The Saving, 839. 

Lauder, Harry’s Son, 1263. 

Laziness, 1603. Curse of, 1605, 1607, 
1609-1611, 1616, 1618. 

Learning, Way to, 530. 

Legends, 68, 69, 78, 82. 

Lent, 598-625. Duty in, 604, 610, 618. 

New Start in, 598, 614. 

Lenten, Consecration, 620. Decision, 

611, 615. Evangelism, 606, 608, 609, 

612, 616, 619, 621, 623, 624, 625'. 

Loyalty, 613. Motive, 605, 607. 

Pardon, 617. Self-Denial, 599, 603. 

Liberty, Bell, 1495. Church and, 1522. 
Leads to Liberty, 1496. Ring In, 



INDEX 


445 


I 5 2 S- By Truth, 1503. Victory of, 
1521. 

life, Beyond, 929, 930, 934, 937. 
Brevity of, 257. Eternal, 941, 1004. 
Remember, 947. Risen 993. Win¬ 
dows, 1531. See Easter, 917-1030. 
Life Testimony, 195'. 

Light, Gives Life, 133. Kept Burning, 
1663. 

Lilies, Lessons from, 974. 

Lincoln, And the Bible, 442, 437. 
Democratic, 430, 472. And Eman¬ 
cipation, 417, 419, 441a, 452. Peg¬ 
ging Away, 416. Hated Profanity, 
425. Illustration (W. A. Sunday), 
438. Saddened, 458. And Stanton, 
462. And Temperance, 428, 434, 439, 

440. Wise, 432, 447, 449, 467, 469, 
473. See Lincoln’t Birthday, 410- 

471. 

Lincoln’s Birthday, 410-471. Boyhood, 
443, 444, 456. Bravery, 466. Death, 
424, 470. Eloquence, 468. Eman¬ 
cipation Proclamation, 417, 419, 

441a, 452. Gratitude, 411. Great¬ 
ness, 426, 427. Height, 412. Hon¬ 
esty, 446, 459, 474. Independence, 
415, 463. Kindness, 413, 420, 451, 
454, 455- Mercy, 423, 429, 431, 453. 
Modesty, 418. Regard for Women, 
433. Religion, 410, 422, 435, 436, 

441, 441a, 445, 476. Sermon, 439. 
Tribute to Washington, 575. Wit, 
414, 421, 465, 471. 

Lord’s Supper, 845-916. A Bridge, 
855. A Proclamation, 858. A 
Prophecy, 861, 905, 913. A Re¬ 
enlistment, 846. Covenant, 865', 877. 
Defined, 854. Equality In, 864. 
Experiences At, 878. Expressing 
Love, 852. Forgiveness Required, 
868. Gives Peace, 859. Heart 
Warming, 870. New View of, 853. 
Not Shared, 866. Omitted From, 
857. Painting of, 867. Preparation 
for, 847. Remembrance, 851, 860. 
Shadowed, 875. Sun of the Soul, 
862. Upper Room, 87*6. Worthily 
Accepted, 871. See Communion 
Sunday, 845-916. 

love, 103. Depth of, 815, 829. Ex¬ 
pressed, 852. Saving, 836. Story 
of, 781. Transforms, 126. 

Man, The Average, 1303. A Seven- 
Day Clock, 1555. Wind the Clock, 
1569. 

May Thirtieth, 1256-1326. See Me¬ 
morial Day, 1256-1326. 

Mediocrity, Danger of, 1418. 

Memorial Day, 1256-1326. At Arling¬ 
ton, 1304. Incident, 1312. Influ¬ 
ence of, 1322. Lessons of, 1266, 
3267, 1280. Memory, 1288. Monu¬ 


ments, 1326. Poetry Concerning, 
1269, 1270, 1281-1286, 1294, 1308, 
i 3 ° 9 > 1314. 1316. Revival of, 1319. 
Unity in, 1311. 

Message, Delivered, 273. Undelivered, 
288, 353. 

Missionary, Ammunition, 320. Desire, 
304. Every Christian A, 276. Gen¬ 
erosity, 296. Geography, 290, 248. 
Giving, 282. Messenger, 292. Of¬ 
fering, 307. Pioneers, 277. Prayer, 
319 , 33 i, 348 . 

Missions, And Bible, 295. And Rum, 

285, 333. Blessings of, 336, 338, 
339. Consecration to, 340. Duty, 

286. Giving to, 309, 312, 314-316, 
318, 324-326, 329, 330, 332, 341, 343, 
350, 351. Heroism in, 360. Home, 
308, 344. Map, 290. Message of, 
273. React, 337. Reflex Influence 
of, 335* Success of, 323. Sunday 
School, 344. Vision, 322. See 
Epiphany, 273-354. 

Money, Love of, 345. And Manhood, 
402. See Giving, 314-334- 
Mother, And Baby, 1207. Andrew 
Carnegie’s, 1226. Garfield’s, 1255. 
Defending, 1251. A Martyr, 1242. 
A Soldier’s, 1208. As Evangelists, 
1248. Edison’s, 1243. Emoluments 
of, 1209. Her Glory, 1224 Her 
Hand, 1225. Her Way, 1240. Heart 
of, 1202. Heart of Home, 1244. 
Honor of, 1205', 1232. Influence of, 
1201, 1203, 1216, 1221, 1241. Legend 
About 1249. Love of, 1222. Me¬ 
mory of, 1253. Minister’s, 1236. 
Moody’s, 1228. Neglected, 1196. 
But One, 1191, 1195. Poetry Con¬ 
cerning, 1203, 1208, 1240, 1244, 1245. 
Praying, 1241, 1227. Revealing, 

1252. Songs of, 1254. Tribute to, 
1239. See Mother’s Day, 1189-1255. 
Motherhood, 10. 

Mother’s Day, 1189-1255. 

Mothers, At Best, 1193. Debt to, 1218. 
God Made, 1190. Love of, 1211. 
Mission of, 1189, 1199, 1210. Tes¬ 
timony to, 1219. 

Marne, A New, 21, 233. 

Nation, American, 1489. Abuses Creep 
In, 1523. Belong to, 1501. Exalted 
by Righteousness, 1463, 1499, 1837. 
Mission of, 1483. Pillars of, 1497. 
Nationalism, 1452-1528. 

Nature, 1031-1102. Beauty of, 1035. 
Industrious, 1062. Love of, 1034, 
1068. Sun, 1071. Voices of, 1039. 
Needed, Blessing of Being, 740, 751. 
Neglect, 368. 

New Year, 136-272. Advance, 161, 240. 
Allegory, 212. Brakes, 232. Cele¬ 
bration, 157. Compass, 170. Dis- 



446 


INDEX 


content, 193. Duty, 173- Experi¬ 
ment, 207. Finis, 208. Gladness, 
144. Growth, 176, 177. Guidance, 
266. Happiness, 74, 14 7 , i 49 > 183, 
230, 235, 249, 268, 269. Haste, 228. 
Inspiration, 209. Milestone, 247. 
Mirror, 216. Motto, 229. Oppor¬ 
tunity, 183, 189, 204, 249, 260, 261. 
Parable 266. Power 246. Presence, 
168. Reminder, 223. Sermon, 270. 
Starting Line, 227. Strategy, 239. 
Talk, 262. Volume, 222. Wisdom, 
159. Worship, 213. 

New Year’s Day, 136-272. 

New Things, 231. 

News, Good, 37. 

Now, Importance of, 154, 190, 200. 

Obedience, 691. 

Office, Public, i 797 > 1801. 

Old Age, 1529-1555. Compensations of, 
1534. Examples of Good, 1543. 
Faithfulness in, 1540* Foregleams 
of Heaven, 1551. Golden Sunsets, 
1530. Growing Old, 1536. Happi¬ 
ness in, 1537. Honoring, 1538. 
Hopeful, 1541. Learning In, 1542. 
Love and, 1529. Not Descent, 1546. 
Poetry Concerning, 1529. I 53 2 , 1544 , 
1545. Ships, 1548. Summer Eve¬ 
ning, 1550. White Hairs, 1539. 
Youth of, 1547. 

Old People’s Day, 1529-1552. 

Old Year, 267. Failures of, 263. 
Oratorio, “The Messiah,” 713. 

Others, Think Of, 1706. 

Palm Sunday, 700-780. Poetry, 723, 
726, 752, 754. Strewn Palms, 714, 
729, 730 , 732 . TT , 

Pardon, 130, 802, 834. Undelivered, 
299 - 

Party, Regularity, 1807. Candidate, 
1808. 

Past, Lessons, 265. 

Patriot, A Christian, 1460, 1490. 

Best, 1491. 

Patriotic, Ideals, 1510. Poetry, 1454, 
1457, 1461, 1470, 1478, 1481, 1484, 
1498, 1507-1512, 1513, 1515. 
Patriotism, 1452-1528. And Purpose, 

1487. And Religion, 1519. And 
Slavery, 1473. Bible Teaches, 1453. 
Duty of, 1291, 1313. Example of, 
1514. Keeping Faith, 1320. Lack 
of, 1485. New Sense of, 1258, 1275, 
1279. Passion for, 1472. Precepts 
of, 1802. Pride and, 1810. Real, 

1488. Revival of, 1528. Rewarded, 

1479, 1488. Standard of, 1476. 

Test of, 1471. True, 1482. Twen¬ 
tieth Century, 1456. Unselfish, 1468. 
See Fourth of July, 1452-1528. 

Peace, Christ’s Gift of, 1x17. Of God, 
1272. In the Holy Supper, 859. 


Message of, 16, 123, 231. Value 
of, 1209. 

Pentecost, 1131-1156. 

Personal Work, 642, 643, 645, 682, 793. 
Pilot, 237. 

Plants, Luminous, 1042. 

Popularity, Passing, 722. 

Politics, 1763-1810. And the Church, 
1776. And Religion, 1783. Chris¬ 
tian In, 1809. Conscience In, 1784. 
Not Debasing, 1805. Platform of, 
1775- See Fourth of July, 1452- 
1528. 

Power, Through Christ, 88. 

Praise, 1811-1841. Echoing, 1830. To 
Whom, 1813. 

Processions (With Palm Sunday), Al- 
lenby’s, 715. Bethlehem, 716. Christ’s, 
753 , 770 , 772 , 773 , 780. David’s, 
717. Eastern, 758. Invisible, 737. 
Jerusalem, 707, 715. Lafayette’s, 
758. Roman, 700. Victoria’s, 735. 
Xerxes’, 732. See Palm Sunday, 
700-780. 

Promises, Faith In, 221. 

Proverb, Japanese, 219. 

Providence, Of God, 1832. New Year, 
141, 142. Plans of, 143. 

Purity, 1680. Heaven of, 1x98. Les¬ 
son of, 1230. Manly, 1220. Teach, 

1235. 

Purposes, Broken Off, 152, 251. 
Quarrels, 1406. 

Rally, And Act, 1659. And Pray, 1673. 
Carry On, 1667. On Colors, 1646. 
Prayer-Meeting, 1669. Roll Call, 
1655. Spirit of, 1651. To Work, 
1650. See Rally Day, 16453-1679. 
Rally Day, 16453-1679. After, 1658. 
Banner, 1670. Bracer, 1665. Call, 
1668. Call to Men, 1674. Calling 
Campaign, 1656. Flag, 1675. Fol¬ 
lowing Up, 1672. An Honest, 1645a. 
Ingathering, 1676. Model Letter, 
1671. Poetry, 1664, 1678. Speeding, 
1647. Sunday School, 1676. Value 
of, 1649. 

Redeemer, Jesus, 820. 

Religion, Introducing a New, 61. 
Rescue Work, 638. 

Resolutions, Broken, 138, 139, 146. 
Necessity of, 186, 187, 211, 239. 
New Year, 138, 139, 146, 186-188, 
211, 239. Scrap Heap of, 188. Saved 
by Previous, 187. See New Year, 
136-272. 

Rest, Sabbath, 1553-1602. 
Resurrection, 917-1030. Asleep Not 
Dead, 921. Belief In, 958. Bunyan 
On, 967. Comfort of, 966. Doubt 
of, 951. Energy of, 1025, 1029. 
Evidences of, 971. Fable of, 943. 
Glorified Body, 1000. Gospel of, 



INDEX 


447 


926. Hades, 938. Jungle Belief In, 
968. Nature’s, 958. If No, 1024. 
Picture of, 918. Proof of, 961. 
Rock, 980. And Science, 1026. 
Sign and Seal, 935. Symbol of, 917, 
924, 940, 944, 952, 962. Tombstone 
Testimony, 991. See Easter, 917- 
1030. 

Righteousness, 11. National, 1837. 
Roads of Remembrance, 1292. 


Sabbath, 1553-1602. Accomplish More 
By, 1560. Admiral Farragut And, 
1600. And Automobiles, 1594 - 
Aviator’s Resolve Concerning, 1578. 
Blessing of, 1590. Bondage, 1568. 
Conscience About, 159°- Conserve, 
1570. Degeneration by Non-Ob¬ 
servance, 1564, 1576, 1580, 1584. 

Essential, 1589. Excuses for Break¬ 
ing, 1562. Family Day, 1566. Folly 
of Breaking, 1592. God’s Dyke, 
1572. Grant’s Observance, I 59 1 - 
Growth In Violating, 1595 - Habit 
of Keeping, 1598. Interest of Poor, 
1577. Isle of Safety, 1556. Japan¬ 
ese Keeping, 1601. Keep, 1588, 1593 - 
Keeps From Blindness, 1558. Keeps 
In Tune, 1561. Lord of, 1567. 
Lord’s Day, 1574 - Needed, 1559 - 
Observing, 1564, 1576, 1580, 1582, 
1584. Puritanism And, 1587* Rest, 
1372, 1579, 1581, 1602. Reward of 
Keeping, 1586. Strengthening, 1555 - 
Sun of the Soul, 1553- Supply De¬ 
pot, 1597. Testing the Compass, 
1575 '- Toning Spiritual Life, 1554- 
Violating Compels Sunday Work, 
1596. For Wide, Clear View, 1557. 
Wilbur Wright And, 1573 - 
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, 845- 
916. 

Sacrifice of Christ, 781-844. 

Saloon, 1732. 

Salvation, Cost of, 658. Conditions of, 

51, 659. 

Saved, From Under, 164. 

Saviour, Rejected, 65. Universal, 100. 
Unseen, 904. 

Schools, 478-543. Value of, 480. 

Houses, 529. 

Sealed Orders, 158. 

Self-Control, 1738. 

Service, Happiness In, 74, 269. Saved 
By, 394 - TT . _ 

Shirker, Failure, 1620, 1630. Hinderer, 


1607. 

Short-Cut, Avoid, 400a. 

Sinners, Saved, 792. 

Soldiers, Bob Evans, 1306. Captain 
Philip, 1317. Dewey, 1310. Flow¬ 
ers on Graves, 1260. Geary, 1312. 
Gratitude to, 1261. Hall of Heroes, 
1321. Honor and Emulate, 1259. 


Honor to, 1273. Iron Cross for, 
1277. Live for, 1289, 1292. Ma¬ 
ternal Feelings of, 1215. New 
Veterans, 1297. Not Coward, 1318. 
Of Spanish War, 1323. Pass the 
Torch, 1293. Remnants, 1300. 
Sacrifice, 1262. Sacrifice of, 1301. 
Tears for, 1271. Tenderness of, 
1324. Unforgotten Dead, 1276. 

Son, Dedicated, 1212. 

Song, Message of, 19. 

Soul, Soaring, 156. Unresting, 795. 

Spring, 1031-1102. Miracle of, 946. 

Star-Led, 97. 

Start, Getting A, 397. 

Story, Our Life, 218. 

Substitution, 781-836. 

Success In Life, 355-409. (Traits 
Leading to). Aim, 375-377- Alert¬ 
ness, 396. Ambition, 362. Brain 
Power, 374. Character, 399. Choice, 
381. Courtesy, 379. Determination, 
386, 389, 391. Enthusiasm, 360. 
Ideals, 390, 398, 400a. Industry, 
380. Punctuality, 365. Purpose, 
401, 404. Saving, 369. Self- 

Control, 400a. Sleep, 403. Thrift, 
374. Thought, 393a. See Young 
People’s Day, 355-409. See Com¬ 
mencement Day, 14x3-1451. 

Sunday, 1553-1602. See Sabbath, 1553- 
1602. 

Teaching, Objects, 504. 

Tears, Of Jesus, 750. 

Temperance, Example of, 1762, Fidelity 
to, 1712. Grant’s Testimony, 1761. 
Heroes of, 1720. Home Influence of, 
1725. Talk by Harry Lauder, 1757. 
In Maine, 1758. Value of, 1709. 
Work For, 1691, 1736. See Tem¬ 
perance Sunday, 1680-1762. 

Temperance Sunday, 1680-1762. 

Temple, Entering, 755. Cleansing, 759. 

Thanksgiving, m. Cultivate, 1839. 
Cure, 1824. Cures Covetuousness, 
1825’. Expressed, 1831. Fisher¬ 
men’s, 1829. Forced, 1835. Habit 
of, 1834. Helps Work, 1826. Note 
of, 1818, 1821, 1823. Poetry Con- 
verning, 1838. Singing, 1840. 

Thanksgiving Day, 1811-1841. 

Time, Borrowed, 1533. Value of, 169, 
171, 217, 241, 242, 245, 255. 

Trees, Acquaintance With, 1089. And 
Lightning, 1076. Angry, 1065. As¬ 
pen, 1096. Banana, 1046. Banyan, 
1059. Candle, 1087. Cow, 1038. 
Cutting, 1031. Freak, 1069. Friends, 
1073. Greedy, 1048. Handy, 1040. 
Lesson From, 1062. Loss of, 1072. 
Lovers, 1075. Loving, 1050. Loving 
the, 1037. Maple, 1064. Murdered 
In France, 1078. Olive, 1080. Are 



44-8 


INDEX 


Trifles, 1080. Paper, 1045. Plant, 
1043, 1051, 1061, 1081, 1098. Plant¬ 
ing 1032. Poems Concerning, 1037, 
1049. Pruning, 1092. Rooted, 1093. 
Seeds, 1054. Shade, 1086. Soap, 
1077. Some Queer, 1044. Straight, 
1079. Teaching, 1090. That Shed 
Bark, 1036. Umbrella, 1083. Use¬ 
ful, 1056. See Arbor Day, 1031-1102. 
Trinity, The, Acknowledged, 1171. Be¬ 
yond Comprehension, 1181. Doctrine 
of, 1170, 1178. General Belief In, 

1164. Illustrated, 1162, 1167. In¬ 
dian’s Definition of, 1157. Mistaken 
View of, 1166. Mystery of, 1161, 

1165. Offices of, 1188. Properties 
of, 1172. Revealed, 1184. Scrip¬ 
tural, 1159. Symbol of, 1163. Wes¬ 
ley On, 1168. Wind, 1174. See 
Trinity Sunday, 1157-1188. 

Trinity Sunday, 1157-1188. 

Triumphal Processions, 700-709, 714- 
717. To Come, 707, 708, 725, 748, 
754, 756, 761, 762, 771. See Palm 
Sunday, 700-780. 

Unconcern, Crime of, 293. 

Upper Room, The, 881. 

Vision, Artist’s, 226. Of Christ, 302. 
Restored, 124. That Vitalizes, 361, 
376 . 

Vistas, Long, 1106. 

Vote, Importance of, 1772, 1780. 

Power of, 1767. A Voice, 1764. Of 
Women, 1769. Your, 1785'. See 
Election Day, 1763-1810. 

Voting, 1763-1810, 1466. Duty of, 1787, 
1776. Neglected, 1770, 1771, 1782. 
Temperance, 1798. See Election 
Day, 1763-1810. 

War, 32, 36, 41, 85, 128, 1256-1326. 
Washington, Appearance of, 559. 
Athletic, 551, 556, 558. And Chil¬ 
dren, 546, 562, 565, 567, 569, 572. 
Courtesy of, 595, 597. Death of, 


587, 596. Dress of, 552, 594. Edu¬ 
cator, 578, 579. Eulogy of, 591. 
First, 544, 564. Greatness of, 547, 
560, 571, 575, 584. Humor of, 563, 
566, 570. And Lafayette, 580. 

Modesty of, 548, 539, 593. Patriot¬ 
ism of, 576. Poems Concerning, 
553, 554, 590. Portraits of 585. 
Punctuality of, 555, 558. Religious 
Character of, 545, 568, 577, 583, 586, 
592. Smile of, 550. And Slavery, 
574. Temper of, 549. See Wash¬ 
ington’s Birthday, 554 - 597 * 
Washington’s Birthday, 554-597. 
Weights, Lifting, 1662. 

Whining, Stop, 1815. 

Whiskey, 1742. 

Whitsunday, 1131-1156. 

Will, 137. 

Wise Men, Return of, 79, 82, 120. 
Witnessing, 631. 

Women, Bravery of, 1278, 1296. Edu¬ 
cation of, 481. Service of, 303. 
Voting, 1769, 1776, 1790 - 
Work, 1603-1645. Blessing of, 1615', 

1633. Commanded, 1608. A Cure, 
1626. And Education, 482. Field 
of, 1660. Hoe, 1661. Cure of 
Doubt, 1604. Lift of, 1634. Light, 

1634. Love of, 1619. Not Menial, 
1632. Steady, 1640. Unwelcome, 
1613. View of, 1627. 

Worker, Christ A, 1622. A Helper, 
1606. Word to, 1645. 

World, A Christless, 59, 81, 101. 

Making a New, 1299. 

Year, Its Opening, 136-272. 

Years, Dying, 224. Flood of, 244. 
Making Beautiful, 145. Shadows of, 
182. 

Yesterday, 202. 

Young People’s Day, 335-409. 

Zeal, 1657. 

Zeppelin Rules, 1748. 



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